Artwork commemorates the life of a giant in microbiology.
Dave Evensen
February 1, 2013

A biology professor requested that a felt sculpture of the late Carl Woese be made as a tribute to the microbiologist. (Photo courtesy of Mark Martin)
A biology professor requested that a felt sculpture of the late Carl Woese be made as a tribute to the microbiologist. (Photo courtesy of Mark Martin)

When the late microbiologist Carl Woese discovered a new domain of life, he touched lives that he didn’t even know.

One of them was Mark Martin, a professor of biology at the University of Puget Sound who met Woese only once, in the 1990s, but who spoke so glowingly of the U of I professor’s discoveries and attitude that one of his students once came to class dressed as Woese for Halloween.

Prior to Woese’s death on December 30, 2012, Martin came across the distinct artwork of Amy Wright, a European artist who makes felt sculptures with needles and wool. When Martin saw that she had created a sculpture of the late physicist Richard Feynman—another hero of Martin’s—he asked her to make a similar portrayal of Woese.

Wright creates many types of felt sculptures, and she started creating scientists after her husband, a physicist, suggested that she make one of Albert Einstein. Wright was fascinated by Woese, she says, and she agreed to sculpt him for Martin.

Using sheep’s wool that has been washed and brushed, and a barbed needle to give it shape, Wright used photos and videos of the late microbiologist to create a sculpture of him in his distinguishing red plaid shirt and wave of white hair. She added a “Tree of Life” on a miniature chalkboard that accompanied the sculpture.

“The sculpture has attracted a fair amount of attention,” adds Wright, who portrays images of the felted Woese and other works at thegreedycrocodile.com.

Martin says the felted Woese now sits prominently over his desk, along with a quote from The Roman scholar Pliny the Elder: “Nature is to be found in her entirety nowhere more than in her smallest creatures.”

“I have long been a fan of the late Dr. Woese, and respect his humane approach to science, his dogged drive in the face of intellectual (and sometimes personal) opposition, and the sheer impact he has had on modern biology,” Martin says.

“After all, who else has changed the way all biologists think about the relationships between living things?”

Read article: NSF awards Illinois $3 million for interdisciplinary graduate student training
NSF awards Illinois $3 million for interdisciplinary graduate student training
The National Science Foundation recently granted the University of Illinois $3 million for an interdisciplinary graduate student training program to help form new insight on the brain—and to expand participation in the field of brain science itself.Sixty graduate students from across campus will...
Read article: New ideas in the fight against neurological diseases
New ideas in the fight against neurological diseases
    An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Illinois have received $2 million over three years from the National Institutes of Health to develop new insights in neuroscience and create diagnostic and therapeutic tools in fighting neurological diseases. Jonathan Sweedler,...
Read article: Growing a New Solution
Growing a New Solution
A researcher at Illinois says that one of the most productive crop plants ever known—sugarcane—can be modified to become even more viable and help reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Stephen Long, professor of plant biology, and other researchers...