Category Archives: Biology

Howard H. Seliger, a retired Johns Hopkins University biology professor who fulfilled a childhood fascination with fireflies by later investigating the science behind their light-making properties, died of coronary artery disease Dec. 20 at his Mount Washington home. He was 88. Family members said that he was an expert on bioluminescence. He helped to show that fireflies and microorganisms found in bioluminescent bodies of water have enzymes that trigger a chemical reaction that make them light up. Dr. Seliger was also principal scientist at the Chesapeake Bay Institute from 1972 to 1989. "Two major events have directed my scientific career. When I was about 10 years old, I saw my first firefly. It was at Camp Northover, New Jersey, run by the Christodora Settlement House on the lower East Side of Manhattan," he said in an autobiographical essay. "From then on I became fascinated with light, and with how in the world this little insect that I held in my hand could produce light, when the only sources of light in my experience came from hot objects; sunlight, incandescent lights, and colored neon lights." Born in New York City, he was the son of a waiter and a homemaker. He … Continue reading →