Otto Ernest Landman, 78, a professor emeritus of microbial genetics at Georgetown University's biology department, died June 5 at Washington Hospital Center of complications from heart surgery in late May. He lived in Bethesda.
Dr. Landman settled in the Washington area in 1956 and became civilian chief of microbial genetics at the Army's labs at Fort Detrick.
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At Georgetown from 1963 to 1986, he continued working in a field that has great impact on the study of genes, genomes and, more recently, cloning. He wrote scholarly papers, taught graduate courses in molecular genetics and was a former chairman of the university committee on rank and tenure.
In retirement, he published articles in such journals as Scientific American and BioScience showcasing his research into experimental evidence supporting -- at the microbial level -- the long-discredited theory of the "inheritance of acquired characteristics."
The inheritance notion, proposed by French scientist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, held that organisms pass on to their offspring characteristics they acquire during their lifetimes.
Dr. Landman was born to a Jewish family in Germany and fled from the Nazis with his family at age 15. He spent his high school years in New York.
He was a magna cum laude chemistry graduate of Queens College. He received a master's degree in chemistry and a doctorate in microbiology, both from Yale University. He did postdoctoral work in microbial genetics at the California Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
He served in the Army's military intelligence service in Europe during World War II.
He was a precinct chief in the Montgomery County Democratic Party. He was a founding member of Bethesda Jewish Congregation and the Waffles discussion club.
His avocations included building elaborate sand castles.
Survivors include his wife of 55 years, Ruth Hallo Landman of the Arden Courts assisted-living facility in Potomac; three children, Wendy Landman of Cambridge, Mass., Jessica Landman of Takoma Park and Jonathan Landman of Newton, Mass.; two sisters; a brother; and six grandchildren.
