BACKGROUND
Frederick Murphy is a world authority on viruses. In 1976, while he was head of the Viral Pathology Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), he captured the very first image of Ebola virus using an electron microscope. Because of its unique spaghetti noodle-like appearance, Dr. Murphy placed Ebola virus, and its relative, Marburg virus, into a new virus family called Filoviridae. Later, as director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases at CDC, Dr. Murphy worked to develop programs relating to child care health, hepatitis B control, and the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS. Dr. Murphy has continued to be a voice of caution against the threat of new and re-emerging infectious diseases, even during periods when many medical scientists thought them effectively conquered. Dr. Murphy is a faculty member in the Department of Pathology of the University of Texas Medical Branch. He is recipient of the 2009 Pen Vet World Leadership Award. His grandparents immigrated from Ireland and the Czech Republic.

ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION
I saw Fred's life and work, much of which made use of the electron microscope, as a view of the microcosm within the macrocosm.
Again, in keeping with the exhibit's theme I use the universe as the metaphor for the unlimited potential of the human spirit. I placed Fred's figure in the Bug Nebula which is located in the constellation Scorpius. Within the gasses of the nebula I work patterns of the various manifestations of the Ebola virus. He cradles the window of the electron microscope in his hands.