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The fundamental contribution of James Maxwell Ross Cormack (1909–1975) in suggesting the term “apoptosis”

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Abstract

This study highlights the historical contribution of Professor James Cormack by providing a Greek term that describes the process of programmed cell death. In 1972 the ancient Greek word “apoptosis” first appeared in the scientific literature. This short manuscript will examine the actual meaning of the term and its historical and phylological background. The word “apoptosis” contains a variety of semantic nuances that are perfectly suited to describe such a complex set of biological events as programmed cell death.

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References

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Acknowledgements

We wish to express our heartfelt thanks to Mrs. Wendy A. Watkins, Curator of The Center for Epigraphical and Palaeographical Studies, The Ohio State University, Columbus, for her invaluable assistance and equal courtesy.

Funding

Department funds from MIUR (Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Anatomy and History of Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Udine, P.le Kolbe 3, 33100, Udine, Italy

    Paola Saccheri & Luciana Travan

Authors
  1. Paola Saccheri
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  2. Luciana Travan
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Contributions

All authors equally contributed to the conception and design of the work. The first draft of the manuscript was written together by both authors, who read and approved the final version, including the order of authors.

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Correspondence to Luciana Travan.

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The authors have no financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

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Saccheri, P., Travan, L. The fundamental contribution of James Maxwell Ross Cormack (1909–1975) in suggesting the term “apoptosis”. Apoptosis 26, 489–490 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10495-021-01688-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10495-021-01688-8

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