S. F. Light

Light was born in Elm Mills, Kansas, on May 5, 1886. His father was Samuel Light, a Presbyterian minister, and his mother was Edith Frances McDill, the daughter of United States Senator James W. McDill (1834–1894) from Iowa. Other details about his early life are unknown. Light attended Park College, Missouri (AB, 1908). After graduating, he spent time abroad in Asia, where he taught for two years in Japan and two years at Manila High School in the Philippines. He went on to spend two years teaching zoology at the University of the Philippines, where he attended graduate school (MA, 1913) and participated in a marine survey at the harbor of Puerto Galera, Mindoro. From March to June 1912, Light and a team of researchers, including ichthyologist Alvin Seale (1871–1958), set up a temporary site, collecting samples for the department of zoology. They discovered that the site would be ideal for a permanent station. Bullock notes that Light's early, productive work on coelenterates, octocorals, and true jellyfish arose out of his time in the Philippines. surprising scientists who had previously believed the fish to be rare in the region. According to science historian Christine Yi Lai Luk, George Sarton (1884–1956), the founder of the history of science discipline, was so impressed by Light's paper that he cited it in his 1924 critical bibliography. That same year, Light returned to the U.S. to study termites, becoming a James M. Goewey Fellow two years later at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received his doctorate under professor Charles Atwood Kofoid on termite flagellates (PhD, 1926). As part of the committee, he served as chairman on the subcommittee on publicity, as vice-chair on biology, and chair on the advisory council. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) said Light had an important role on this project in late 1929. That same year, Light was made full professor. and his 1935 study on termite colony castes, established him as an expert in his field. In the 1930s, Light began teaching marine zoology and holding five-week summer courses and field trips to Moss Beach and Dillon Beach. From these classes, he developed a syllabus in 1937 which evolved into an invertebrate zoology textbook and field guide, later publishing it in book form as the Laboratory and Field Text in Invertebrate Zoology (1941). The Southern California Association of Marine Invertebrate Taxonomists (SCAMIT) recognizes the book as "the first reasonably comprehensive treatment of marine invertebrates" in the north central California coastal region. Marine ecologist James T. Carlton notes that ''Light's Manual'' was originally designed for specialists working in the area between Hopkins Marine Station and Bodega Marine Laboratory. On June 21, 1947, Light accidentally drowned in Clear Lake, while fishing on summer vacation. Until his death, Light served as professor of zoology at Berkeley for 22 years. ==Personal life==

Light married Mary Nexbitt Holdcroft on January 1, 1925. with Light's doctoral advisor Charles Atwood Kofoid and colleague Richard M. Eakin notable members. ==Legacy==

Light's former student, neuroscientist Theodore H. Bullock, argues that his work and influence led his students at the University of the Philippines to establish the Puerto Galera Marine Biological Laboratory in 1925. He published 70 papers, many in entomology. A group of students who studied under Light at Berkeley became leading authorities in their respective fields. These students include Olga Hartman (1900–1974), expert on polychaete worms, professor of biology at the University of Southern California; zoologist Mildred Stratton Wilson (1909–1973), who like Light before her, focused on copepods as a research associate of the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Alaska; Joel Hedgpeth (1911–2006), professor of oceanography at the University of California, San Diego; zoological systematist Paul L. Illg (1914–1998), associate curator at the National Museum of Natural History and professor of zoology at the University of Washington; neuroscientist Theodore H. Bullock (1915–2005), a pioneer in neuroethology; and Donald P. Abbott (1920–1986), professor of biology at Stanford University and teacher at Hopkins Marine Station. Light also sat on the thesis committee at Berkeley. William C. Reeves (1916–2004), arbovirologist and professor of public health, recalls that during his Berkeley dissertation committee in 1943, the graduate dean chose Light to sit on the thesis committee as a "wild man", someone who could ask the candidate anything. Reeves had heard he was a "difficult" person. After the experience, for which Reeves earned a PhD in medical entomology and parasitology, he came away with the impression that Light was a kind man. A few months after Hanus et al. published their findings, Matsuura et al. summarized the state of research, citing Light: "In termites, which evolved eusociality independently of Hymenoptera, the existence of queen pheromones inhibiting the differentiation of supplementary queens has been suggested for many decades, but to date no active compounds have been identified." ==''Light's Manual''==

Before Light's death, he acknowledged that the Laboratory and Field Text in Invertebrate Zoology (1941) was incomplete and in need of corrections. When he died, the first edition of the book was out of print. Editing and revisions were needed before it could be republished. Ralph I. Smith (1916–1993) spent years editing and revising the original book, publishing the second edition in 1954 with the title Intertidal Invertebrates of the Central California Coast, and the subtitle "S. F. Light's 'Laboratory and Field Text in Invertebrate Zoology'". Revisions to the new edition were made by Smith, Frank A. Pitelka, Donald P. Abbott, Frances M. Weesner, and other contributors. A third, expanded edition was released in 1975, with the new title ''Light's Manual. After Smith died in 1993, the title of the fourth edition, published in 2007, was changed to The Light and Smith Manual'' in his honor. The expanded and revised fourth edition includes coverage of California and Oregon with contributions from 120 scholars. ==Collections==

• American Museum of Natural History • California Academy of Sciences ==Selected publications==

'' by Light. It was first described in 1921 from specimens Light collected in the Philippines. A century later, research continues on this rare species. ;Books • Termites and Termite Control (1934). . • Laboratory and Field Text in Invertebrate Zoology (1941). . ;Articles • "Termites of Western Mexico" (1933). . • "Termites of Southeastern Polynesia" (1936). • "Experimental studies on ectohormonal control of the development of supplementary reproductives in the termite genus Zootermopsis (formerly Termopsis)" (1944). . ==Notes and references==