At age 100, Folk is University of Iowa’s oldest serving faculty member

IOWA CITY - Throughout his long and accomplished career, G. Edgar Folk contemplated retirement.

'I had plenty of chances to retire,” the University of Iowa emeritus professor of molecular physiology and biophysics told The Gazette. 'But I couldn't face the thought.”

So even after officially joining the UI faculty's emeritus ranks at age 68 in 1982, Folk kept working - publishing more than 40 papers, including 10 after turning 90. And on Friday, his 100th birthday, Folk was celebrated as the UI's oldest serving faculty member.

'This is a rare privilege,” UI President Sally Mason said Friday afternoon during a birthday party for Folk on campus.

Mason said Folk's arrival at a century is remarkable, but his accomplishments deserve the most attention, citing his 'many years of major contributions to the University of Iowa, the State of Iowa, and the academic world.”

As a biology student herself, Mason said, she recalls studying the findings of Folk - which are many. He was part of the original team of researchers who discovered that all bears hibernate, during World War II he helped design cold-weather survival gear for troops, and he's known internationally for his research on the biological clock, cold adaptation, and hypothermia.

Folk joined the UI faculty in 1953 and established the first course in environmental physiology for graduate students - literally writing the first textbook devoted to the topic in 1966.

He took sabbatical to study the circadian rhythm of mammals in a lab on the shore of the Arctic Ocean - crossing snow banks and venturing into caves to place transmitters in bears and other animals that track heart rate and temperature during hibernation.

'We were the first to prove that all three species of bear do hibernate - grizzlies, black bears, and polar bears,” Folk said. 'That wasn't known at the time.”

Before coming to Iowa - during the second World War - Folk was stationed at the Harvard Fatigue Laboratory, where he helped design thermal boots for soldiers.

'A small part of my war contribution was improving what soldiers were wearing in the trenches,” Folk said. 'We felt we were able to make the soldiers more comfortable.”

Folk's daughter, Victoria Folk Sprague, said his work did more than that.

'You saved a lot of lives with those boots, dad,” Sprague told him.

Folk also was involved in the creation of K-rations, an individual daily combat food ration used by the U.S. military during World War II.

Over the span of his career, Folk has authored or co-authored more than 175 papers and chapters, more than 163 preliminary reports, and four books. In 2012, at age 98, he published his memoir, Science on the Far Horizon.

He was honored Friday with a certificate from Gov. Terry Branstad's office and with a state flag that has flown over the Old Capital in downtown Iowa City.

Folk told The Gazette that he wasn't expecting the recognition.

'I'm overwhelmed,” he said. 'I can't believe it.”