Trivia
Periodic acid Schiff stain whose lively purple-magenta coloring of carbohydrate 1-2-glycol groups20,21 inspired Leblond’s Golgi and cell coat discoveries also elegantly inspired the Leblond wardrobe, automobile and even home interior and country home name – Val Mauve.
One of Leblond’s continuing interest was his endeavour to ensure the usage of the correct name for the technique which he had spent a lifetime developing. In a review chapter written in 1987, entitled: “Radioautography: The role played by anatomists in the development and application of the technique.”, he writes: The reasons why the term “radioautography” is preferred to “autoradiography” for the detection of radioactive elements by photographic emulsion are as follows. The term “autoradiography” is a compound word including the term “radiography”. This term is defined as a picture produced by an x-ray beam that has passed through an object. Since this object, for instance a bone examined after a fracture, is located between the source of radiation and the emulsion, it appears white in the emulsion; that is, it is seen as a negative image. In contrast, when radioactive elements are seen in sections, the object under study is itself the source of the radiation that influences the emulsion. The black image thus produced is a photographic positive. It may be referred to as an autograph, that is “the reproduction of form or outline of anything by an impression from the thing itself” (Oxford English Dictionary, 1975). Hence, the author called it initially a “radioactive autograph”. Later, on the advice of an editor, he condensed these two words into “radioautograph”. The procedure is often called “autoradiography” but “radioautography” is the correct term.
Leblond had 4 children for which, in a true Cartesian manner, he chose names starting with the letter "P": Philippe, Paul, Pierre and (Marie)-Pascale. He also had 7 grandchildren.
Read more about this topic: Charles Philippe Leblond
Famous quotes containing the word trivia:
“Pop artists deal with the lowly trivia of possessions and equipment that the present generation is lugging along with it on its safari into the future.”
—J.G. (James Graham)
“The most refined skills of color printing, the intricate techniques of wide-angle photography, provide us pictures of trivia bigger and more real than life. We forget that we see trivia and notice only that the reproduction is so good. Man fulfils his dream and by photographic magic produces a precise image of the Grand Canyon. The result is not that he adores nature or beauty the more. Instead he adores his camera—and himself.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)