As the nation’s first black president, elected by the most decisive margin in two decades, it’s probably not much of a surprise that one of Harvard Law School’s favorite sons is leading Time Magazine’s online poll to be named person of the year. More unexpected is that the man in second place—albeit by a massive margin—is biologist Douglas A. Melton, the director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

Harvard life scientists seem to be doing particularly well this year: genomics researcher J. Craig Venter—the founder of The Institute for Geonomic Research and a visiting scholar at Harvard—is sixth in the poll, which has no bearing on whom Time’s editors ultimately choose.

Melton, a widely respected researcher known for his full-throated advocacy of embryonic stem cell research, published a study earlier this year showing that an adult cell can be transformed into a different type of cell without first returning to an embryonic state.

Political philosopher Michael J. Sandel, who teaches a course on ethics and biotechnology with Melton in the spring term, said in an e-mail that he had supported Melton in the poll.

“When I voted, Doug was in a tight race with Michael Phelps and Sarah Palin,” he said. “I hope he prevails.”

So far, he has. Currently, Melton is beating out Tina Fey and Phelps, while Palin has dropped to seventh place—one spot behind Venter.

Amy J. Wagers, a professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School who described Melton as a mentor, said she was impressed that Melton had done so well in a popular survey.

“It’s interesting to me how publicly known [his work] must be for him to be in second,” Wagers said. “He’s done a great job raising awareness.”

But HSCI Executive Director Brock C. Reeve admitted that Melton’s chances of actually winning the honor are slim.

“When you have Barack Obama in the running, you could argue he had a bigger impact on the world,” Reeve said.

But Reeve said that he was happy to see scientists on the list.

“It’s good to see people who aren’t as much in the public eye get that recognition,” he said.