Beyond Mendelism and Biometry
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Bloomsbury Scientists Ii Iii
i Bloomsbury Scientists ii iii Bloomsbury Scientists Science and Art in the Wake of Darwin Michael Boulter iv First published in 2017 by UCL Press University College London Gower Street London WC1E 6BT Available to download free: www.ucl.ac.uk/ ucl- press Text © Michael Boulter, 2017 Images courtesy of Michael Boulter, 2017 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Non-derivative 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work for personal and non-commercial use providing author and publisher attribution is clearly stated. Attribution should include the following information: Michael Boulter, Bloomsbury Scientists. London, UCL Press, 2017. https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781787350045 Further details about Creative Commons licenses are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ ISBN: 978- 1- 78735- 006- 9 (hbk) ISBN: 978- 1- 78735- 005- 2 (pbk) ISBN: 978- 1- 78735- 004- 5 (PDF) ISBN: 978- 1- 78735- 007- 6 (epub) ISBN: 978- 1- 78735- 008- 3 (mobi) ISBN: 978- 1- 78735- 009- 0 (html) DOI: https:// doi.org/ 10.14324/ 111.9781787350045 v In memory of W. G. Chaloner FRS, 1928– 2016, lecturer in palaeobotany at UCL, 1956– 72 vi vii Acknowledgements My old writing style was strongly controlled by the measured precision of my scientific discipline, evolutionary biology. It was a habit that I tried to break while working on this project, with its speculations and opinions, let alone dubious data. But my old practices of scientific rigour intentionally stopped personalities and feeling showing through. -
Part I April 1952
HEREDITY VOLUME 6 PART I APRIL 1952 STATISTICALMETHODS IN GENETICS R. A. FISHER Being the Bateson Lecture delivered at the John lnnes Horticultural Institution on Friday, 6th July 1951 * THEtitle chosen for this lecture is "StatisticalMethods in Genetics," but after hearing what I have written you may think that it is not so much an account of the contributions which the study of Statistics has made to the advance of Genetics, as an examination of the nature of genetical Science from the point of view of a statistician,. My reason for taking this point of view is that for many active years of my life I was fully engaged in doing what I could to further the progress of statistical methods, and that though for 25 years or so I have enjoyed the excitements of genetic experimentation, Genetics has only gradually come to be, for me, a whole time study, in place of a very fascinating hobby. Since that experience is in itself exceptional, it may be that the refiexions gathered on the way are worthy of record, and of interest to my genetical colleagues. Genetics and Statistics have in common that they are both characteristic products of the twentieth century. As we should recognise them now, neither of them existed before the year 1900. Of course I do not ignore the fact that earlier workers of many nations, Naudin and Godron, for example, Knight, Gaertner and Kohlreuter broached the practical problems of experimentation in heredity, or that on the theoretical side Galton and Weismann put forward speculations sometimes to an interesting extent near the truth. -
2017 Magdalen College Record
Magdalen College Record Magdalen College Record 2017 2017 Conference Facilities at Magdalen¢ We are delighted that many members come back to Magdalen for their wedding (exclusive to members), celebration dinner or to hold a conference. We play host to associations and organizations as well as commercial conferences, whilst also accommodating summer schools. The Grove Auditorium seats 160 and has full (HD) projection fa- cilities, and events are supported by our audio-visual technician. We also cater for a similar number in Hall for meals and special banquets. The New Room is available throughout the year for private dining for The cover photograph a minimum of 20, and maximum of 44. was taken by Marcin Sliwa Catherine Hughes or Penny Johnson would be pleased to discuss your requirements, available dates and charges. Please contact the Conference and Accommodation Office at [email protected] Further information is also available at www.magd.ox.ac.uk/conferences For general enquiries on Alumni Events, please contact the Devel- opment Office at [email protected] Magdalen College Record 2017 he Magdalen College Record is published annually, and is circu- Tlated to all members of the College, past and present. If your contact details have changed, please let us know either by writ- ing to the Development Office, Magdalen College, Oxford, OX1 4AU, or by emailing [email protected] General correspondence concerning the Record should be sent to the Editor, Magdalen College Record, Magdalen College, Ox- ford, OX1 4AU, or, preferably, by email to [email protected]. -
The Practical Mendelism of Erich Tschermak
From a draft. May differ from the published version, which appeared in New Perspectives on the History of Life Sciences and Agriculture, ed. Denise Phillips and Sharon E. Kingsland, 419–439, Springer-Verlag, 2015. Breeding Better Peas, Pumpkins, and Peasants: The Practical Mendelism of Erich Tschermak SANDER GLIBOFF Indiana University Abstract. This paper follows the career of Erich Tschermak (1871–1962, aka Erich von Tschermak-Seysenegg), one of the three “co-rediscoverers” of Mendel’s laws. It considers the practical ramifications, in agricul- ture, eugenics, and politics, of Tschermak’s reading of Mendel’s theory, and examines how Tschermak promoted his theories and practices—and himself—in the shifting contexts of the Austro-Hungaian Empire, Aus- trian First Republic, and Nazi period. Special attention is given to the hybridization work on peas that led him to Mendel’s paper, to the devel- opment of the “Tschermak Pumpkin” in the 1930s as an illustration of the practical side of his Mendelism, and to his wartime consultations with the German Minister of Agriculture on selecting and crossing strains of crops, animals, and even the peasants to go with them to planned settlements in occupied Poland and Ukraine. Keywords: Genetics, Mendelism, Plant Breeding, Eugenics, Hybridization, Erich von Tschermak-Seysenegg, Biography, Austria, Early 20th Century. Introduction The historiography of Mendelism and early genetics has taken a practical turn in recent years. From the context of sheep breeding in pre-Mendelian Moravia and Mendel’s own involvement in scientific agriculture and plant breeding1 to the 1. Vítězslav Orel, “Constant Hybrids in Mendel’s Research,” History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 20 (1998): 291–299; Roger J. -
Scientific Report
Czech J. Genet. Plant Breed., 49, 2013 (2): 90–94 SCIENTIFIC REPORT Development of the New Winter Wheat Variety Skorpion with Blue Grain Petr MARTINEK 1, Miroslav ŠKORPÍK 2, Jana CHRPOVÁ2, Pavel FUČÍK 3 and Josef SCHWEIGER 4 1Agrotest Fyto, Ltd. Kroměříž, Czech Republic; 2Crop Research Institute, Prague-Ruzyně, Czech Republic; 3Branišovice, Czech Republic; 4Saatbau Linz, OÖ. Landes-Saatbaugenossenschaft, GmbH., Austria Abstract Martinek P., Škorpík M., Chrpová J., Fučík P., Schweiger J. (2013): Development of the new winter wheat variety Skorpion with blue grain. Czech. J. Genet. Plant Breed., 49: 90–94. Breeding wheat with blue grain was conducted at the Crop Research Institute in Prague. Initial donor material came from the legacy of Erich von Tschermak-Seysenegg. Long-term crosses with a series of winter wheat varie- ties were made with the aim of transferring blue grain colour into cultivated varieties. The prospective mate- rial was later handed over to Agrotest Fyto, Ltd., Kroměříž, where line no. 6 was selected from the population RU 440. At the end of 2011, the new winter wheat variety Skorpion with blue grain was registered in Austria. It is intended for special use in the food industry. The anthocyanins which it contains are considered to offer health benefits due to their antioxidant effects. Keywords: agronomic traits; anthocyanins; blue aleurone; grain quality; new variety; Triticum aestivum L. In 2011, after 3 years of testing (2009–2011), phenolic compounds, especially tannins, which the winter wheat variety Skorpion was registered positively affect resistance in wheat to sprouting in Austria. In 2012, it was then enrolled in the (Himi & Noda 2004). -
STORIA DEL PENSIERO BIOLOGICO EVOLUTIVO Con Riflessioni Di Filosofia Ambientale
STORIA DEL PENSIERO BIOLOGICO EVOLUTIVO con riflessioni di filosofia ambientale STORIA DEL PENSIERO BIOLOGICO EVOLUTIVO con riflessioni di filosofia ambientale Piergiacomo Pagano 2013 ENEA Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie, l’energia e lo sviluppo economico sostenibile Lungotevere Thaon di Revel, 76 00196 ROMA ISBN 978-88-8286-288-6 Foto in copertina In alto: fotografie di Fabio Conte Sfondo e riquadro: fotografie di Piergiacomo Pagano (Pellicani a Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia, novembre 2003; Baobab, mousse du Senegal, febbraio 1991) STORIA DEL PENSIERO BIOLOGICO EVOLUTIVO con riflessioni di filosofia ambientale PIERGIACOMO PAGANO P. Pagano, Storia del Pensiero Biologico Evolutivo, ENEA INDICE Premessa …………………………………………………………………………………………..… 11 Introduzione ………………………………………………………………………………………… 13 1 Sui tre inspiegabili fatti che misero in dubbio la Creazione ……………………………………... 17 1.1 In antichità: cause finali e progetto …………………………………………………………...……... 17 1.2 L’età moderna ……………………………………………………………………………………...... 18 1.3 La grande diversità degli animali e delle piante …………………………………………………….. 19 1.4 Le palesi ingiustizie ……………………………………………………………………...………….. 20 1.5 La presenza di fossili inglobati nelle rocce ………………………………………………………..... 21 2 La Natura, gli organismi e la loro classificazione ……………………………………………...… 23 2.1 La classificazione in Platone …………………………………………………………………...…… 23 2.2 Classificazioni …………………………………………………………………………………...….. 25 2.3 Dopo Platone ………………………………………………………………………………………... 25 2.4 Aristotele e lo studio della Natura -
The Third Base
Appendix The Third Base Donald Forsdyke If I thought that by learning more and more I should ever arrive at the knowledge of absolute truth, I would leave off studying. But I believe I am pretty safe. Samuel Butler, Notebooks Darwin’s mentor, the geologist Charles Lyell, and Darwin himself, both con- sidered the relationship between the evolution of biological species and the evolution of languages [1]. But neither took the subject to the deep informa- tional level of Butler and Hering. In the twentieth century the emergence of a new science – Evolutionary Bioinformatics (EB) – was heralded by two dis- coveries. First, that DNA – a linear polymer of four base units – was the chromosomal component conveying hereditary information. Second, that much of this information was “a phenomenon of arrangement” – determined by the sequence of the four bases. We conclude with a brief sketch of the new work as it relates to William Bateson’s evolutionary ideas. However, imbued with true Batesonian caution (“I will believe when I must”), it is relegated to an Appendix to indicate its provisional nature. Modern languages have similarities that indicate branching evolution from common ancestral languages [2]. We recognize early variations within a language as dialects or accents. When accents are incompatible, communi- cation is impaired. As accents get more disparate, mutual comprehension de- creases and at some point, when comprehension is largely lost, we declare that there are two languages where there was initially one. The origin of lan- guage begins with differences in accent. If we understand how differences in accent arise, then we may come to understand something fundamental about the origin of language (and hence of a text written in that language). -
Statement About Pnas Paper “The New Mutation Theory of Phenotypic Evolution”
July 30, 2007 (revised) Brief Historical Perspectives of the Paper “THE NEW MUTATION THEORY OF PHENOTYPIC EVOLUTION” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 104:12235-12242, Published July 17, 2007 online. Masatoshi Nei The following is the author’s account of the history of development of the mutation theory of phenotypic evolution and related matters. Darwinism (1) Charles Darwin proposed that evolution occurs by natural selection in the presence of fluctuating variation. (2) At his time, the mechanism of generation of new variation was not known, and he assumed that new variation is generated by climatic changes, inheritance of acquired characters, spontaneous variations, etc. However, he believed that new variation occurs in random direction and evolutionary change is caused by natural selection. (3) He assumed that enormous phenotypic diversity among different phyla and classes is the result of accumulation of gradual evolution by natural selection. Saltationism Several biologists such as Thomas Huxley, William Bateson, and Hugo de Vries argued that the extent of variation between species is much greater than that within 1 species and therefore saltational or macromutational change is necessary to form new species rather than gradual evolution as proposed by Darwin. In this view a new species can be produced by a single macromutation, and therefore natural selection is unimportant. This view was strengthened when de Vries discovered several new forms of evening primroses which were very different from the parental species (Oenothera lamarckiana) and appeared to be new species. This discovery suggested that new species can arise by a single step of macromutation. However, it was later shown that O. -
Doctorates Awarded in America in Botany and Zoology More Than Doubled
DIVISION OF THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91125 GENETICS IN THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN 1890 to 1930: QUERIES AND SPECULATIONS Daniel J. Kev1es HUMANITIES WORKING PAPER 15 December 1978 According to recent scholarship in the early history of genetics, by the l890s many younger biologists were growing restless with phylogenetic morphology and embryology, the traditional descriptive approaches to the much-debated problems of evolutionary theory. Eager to break away from these approaches, a number of these biologists -- and some older ones such as Alfred R. Wallace called for programs of experimental research in evolution addressed in particular to the problems of heredity and variation. "No problems in the whole range of biology," Charles O. Whitman of Woods Hole typically said, were of 1 "higher scientific interest or deeper practical import to humanity." In England Francis Galton inspired one of the more important experimental research programs -- W. F. R. Weldon's statistical analyses, developed in collaboration with Karl Pearson, of variations in large populations. Another important departure was the program of hybridization experiments exemplified in the research of William Bateson. Pearson and Weldon helped establish the field of heredity studies known as biometry. The research of Bateson and others paved the way for the rediscovery in 2 1900 and then vigorous advocacy of the Mendelian paradigm. Mendel's ideas did not gain rapid acceptance in all biological quarters in either the United States or Great Britain, In England, the biometricians Weldon and Pearson hotly disputed the validity of Mendel's results, the merits of his conceptual scheme, and even the integrity of his British advocates, especially Bateson. -
William Bateson: Scientific Correspondence and Papers (MS Add.8634)
Cambridge University Library, Department of Archives and Modern Manuscripts Finding Aid - William Bateson: Scientific Correspondence and Papers (MS Add.8634) Generated by Access to Memory (AtoM) 2.4.0 Printed: February 27, 2019 Language of description: English Cambridge University Library, Department of Archives and Modern Manuscripts https://archive.lib.cam.ac.uk/index.php/william-bateson-scientific-correspondence-and-papers William Bateson: Scientific Correspondence and Papers Table of contents Summary information .................................................................................................................................... 20 Administrative history / Biographical sketch ................................................................................................ 20 Scope and content ......................................................................................................................................... 20 Notes .............................................................................................................................................................. 21 Access points ................................................................................................................................................. 21 Collection holdings ........................................................................................................................................ 22 MS Add.8634/A.1-A.84, Biographical papers (c.1859-1935 & 1972) ..................................................... -
Tutorial: Mendelian Genetics
Mendelian Genetics Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 Heredity Before Mendel ..................................................................................................... 2 Mendel and the Laws of Heredity....................................................................................... 4 The “Rediscovery” of Mendel ............................................................................................. 7 The Misuse of Mendel ........................................................................................................ 8 Mendel in the Modern World ........................................................................................... 10 References and Resources ................................................................................................ 10 Supplemental Material ..................................................................................................... 11 Introduction Today, when the word “genetics” is mentioned the mind is at once occupied with terms like cloning, PCR, the genome project, and genomics. Just a few decades ago, however, the word genetics conjured up a very different set of terms including crossing, segregation, Punnett square, and binomial expansion. It is not that these terms have disappeared or have been replaced since, it is, rather, that genetics moved full force into the molecular era in the late 1970s and, in the beginning of the twenty-first century, -
The Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics the Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics
- Theoretical Population Genetics The Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics The Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics with a New Afterword William B. Provine The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London WituraM B. Provinzis the C. A. Alexander Professor of Biological Sciences at Cornell University. Heis the author of Sewall Wright and Evolutionary Biology and the editor of Evolution: Selected Papers by Sewall Wright, both published by the University of Chicago Press. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 1971 by The University of Chicago Afterword © 2001 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America IO 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 OI 12345 ISBN: 0-226-68463-6 (cloth) ISBN: 0-226-68464-4 (paper) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Provine, William B. Theorigins of theoretical population genetics / William B. Provine.—with a new afterword p- cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-226-68463-6 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 0-226- 68464-4 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Population genetics—History.I. Title. QH455.P77 2001 576.5'8'09—de21 2001027561 © The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. To Doris Marie Provine Contents INTRODUCTION 1x 1. Darwin’s THEory oF Natura SELECTION: THE ReE- ACTION DARWIN'S THEORY I THE REACTION 10 Thomas H. Huxley and “Natura non facit