ABSTRACT
The apoptosis concept, that death of selected individual cells within a tissue is an active process mediated by the cell’s own biochemical mechanisms [1], represents one of the most important milestones in cell and tissue research this century. Prior to its introduction, all cell death was considered to be the outcome of injury and to be degenerative in nature. The discovery of apoptosis owes much to careful electron microscopic observations, the fortuitous coming together of minds and, as so often happens with major discoveries, a good deal of luck. However, the most important thing about the work of Kerr, Wyllie and Currie was not so much the new facts they discovered but the new way they developed of looking at and interpreting their findings and the published work of others. The ‘revolutionary’ idea that a cell could actively participate in its own death was not to be generally accepted until some 20 years had passed. The genesis, extension and ultimate acceptance of the apoptosis concept shows many similarities to the historical development of other major scientific concepts. Our interest in apoptosis dates back to the early years. We shared the good fortune of working with John Kerr in the Pathology Department, University of Queensland, at the time when many of the events we are about to describe were happening (see note at end of chapter). John Kerr’s recently published reminiscences [2] of the period leading up to the first apoptosis paper were an invaluable source of information. However, we have tried where possible to rely on our own recollections of the events that took place and the interpretations we have given are ours alone. In this chapter, an historical perspective, we examine the events leading up to the discovery of apoptosis in 1972 and then follow its evolution as a concept until around 1990, when the explosion of interest in apoptosis began.
