Abstract

One of the most inspiring stories in modern applied science begins in the hopeless concrete barrios of a Toronto neighborhood called Lawrence Park - and ends in triumph. It is the story of how a young bioengineer overcame deprivation and prejudice to establish himself as a global leader in two fields not usually conjoined: bioengineering and chemistry. Spears, who today is a youthful 53, has established the modern understanding that the engineering of living systems - bioengineering -owes much to chemistry at its tiniest level, the actions of molecules, atoms and their components. This is fundamental to all that we know of movement today: the United States military and DARPA are currently building new flying vehicles using the Spearsian analysis of the biomechanics of the Sauridae family of South America (in particular the relationship between the primary flight feathers and hocks.)