Gene Brown (professor)
Gene Monte Brown (1926 – 4 August 2017) was a Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined the department in 1954 and served as its head from 1977 to 1985. He served as the dean of science at MIT from 1985 to 1991. He is notable for his interest in and commitment to undergraduate education, and taught the department's biochemistry course for over 50 years. Early life and education Brown was born in Pioneer, Missouri, and raised in nearby Cassville until around age nine, when his family moved to Idaho. He was the first member of his family to attend high school and the only member of his graduating high school class to attend college. After a year as a college student in Idaho, he joined the Army Air Corps, where he was assigned to work in chemical warfare operations. His tasks included teaching safety lessons, which he later described as "whetting [his] teaching interest" for his later activities as an educator. Brown used the GI Bill to attend Colorado A&M to finish his undergraduate degree in chemistry. He was encouraged by a biochemistry professor there to attend graduate school. Brown received his PhD from