Historical perspectives in cell physiology: looking back to help the discipline move forward.

摘要

The Spanish philosopher and essayist, George Santayana (1863-1952), noted that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." That idea has led the Editors of American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology to initiate a new type of article, "Historical Perspectives." Several of the Associate Editors (among others) and I, especially those of us of a "certain age," have been surprised to discover that many of today's students, postdoctoral trainees-and even faculty-have a limited sense of key past discoveries (i.e., "the history") that underlie major current concepts in the biomedical sciences. We find that this lack of historical perspective is especially true in cell physiology, even though it is a relatively young (sub-)discipline in biology.