Wow, that's exactly the breaching experiment that I was contemplating myself. Kudos to the perpetrator - solid point made!
For the record, the article (as deleted) read...
QUOTE
Michael "Mike" Handel (born June 3, 1930) is a biologist. He was the Terrence F. Gregory Professor of Biology at Magdalen College, University of Oxford.
Contents
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* 1 Early life
* 2 Early academic career
* 3 Israel
* 4 Oxford
* 5 Retirement
* 6 References
Early life
Handel was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1930. His father, Howard Handel, was a British chemist at Imperial College London, then on sabbatical at the University of Michigan. When Handel was three, in 1933, the family moved back to London.[1]
In 1947, Handel entered University College, Oxford where he read biology, graduating in 1950. After graduation, Handel, capitalizing on his American citizenship (gained by virtue of being born in Michigan) left the UK for the US, working for a year in a laboratory at Columbia University in New York City. In 1951, he began graduate study in the biology department at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1954–1955, he returned to the UK to do research at the University of Cambridge and in 1957 he received his doctorate from Berkeley.[1]
Early academic career
Handel left Berkeley to become a lecturer in biology at the University of Glasgow, where he remained until 1960, teaching and conducting research in animal behavior and psychopharmacology. In 1961–1962, Handel received grant money to study animal behavior in his own lab at Glasgow and left his teaching responsibilities behind.[2]
Also, in 1961, Handel married Jane MacLaren, a student in literature at Glasgow. They would go on to have three children.[1]
Israel
In 1963, Handel was invited to visit Tel Aviv University as a researcher and faculty member, and he arrived ready to continue his research. He left in 1968 to return to the UK.[1]
Oxford
In 1968, Handel joined Magdalen College as professor of biology. He remained at Magdalen until 1986, and from 1971 to 1983 held the highly prestigious Terrence F. Gregory Chair. The college eliminated the chair in 1983 for funding reasons.[3]
Nonetheless, many of Handel's experiments, particularly in the 1970s, were highly controversial with animal rights groups, who attempted to bomb his laboratory in 1974; the bomb failed to explode and no one was injured.[4]According to the police, the triggering mechanism on the bomb, which was based on parts taken from an alarm clock, was not properly connected. Handel defended his research after the attack, saying that it was important for the pursuit of knowledge and science, but protesters called him a "Nazi", a "murderer," and accused him of "perpetrating a holocaust against animals". [5]
Handel's research, nonetheless, led to important insights into the toxicity of psychoactive compounds and set the groundwork for later accomplishments in the field.[1]
Retirement
Handel retired from Magdalen in 1986, moving to a family home outside Birmingham. He lectured briefly at the University of Birmingham but soon withdrew from academic life. He currently lives at his home near Birmingham and enjoys spending time with his grandchildren.[2]
References
1. ^ a b c d e "Farewell to Professor Handel". The Magdalen College Record. 1987.
2. ^ a b "Catching up with Michael Handel - His Reflections on Magdalen in the 70s". The Magdalen College Record. 1996.
3. ^ "Gregory Chair Suspended". The Magdalen College Record. 1983.
4. ^ Patterson, Charles (1993). Animal Rights. Enslow Publishing. pp. 79.
5. ^ Richards, David (11 April 1974). "Attempted bombing of biology lab". The Oxford Times.
The Mike Handel Story
John Limey The Mike Handel Story 
