Reginald Crundall Punnett: First Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics, Cambridge, 1912

Edwards, A. W. F.

doi:10.1534/genetics.112.143552

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Reginald Punnett, an English geneticist, was the first to figure out a way to calculate the probability of offspring with particular genotypes from a cross of parents with known genotypes (Edwards 2012). The Punnett square, named after his approach, is a summary of possible allelic combinations from the maternal and paternal sides.…”

Section: Genetics and Cryptographymentioning

confidence: 99%

William Friedman, Geneticist Turned Cryptographer

Goldman

2017

Genetics

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William Friedman (1891-1969, trained as a plant geneticist at Cornell University, was employed at Riverbank Laboratories by the eccentric millionaire George Fabyan to work on wheat breeding. Friedman, however, soon became intrigued by and started working on a pet project of Fabyan's involving the conjecture that Francis Bacon, a polymath known for the study of ciphers, was the real author of Shakespeare's plays. Thus, beginning in 1916, Friedman turned his attention to the so called "Baconian cipher," and developed decryption techniques that bore similarity to approaches for solving problems in population genetics. His most significant, indeed pathbreaking, work used ideas from genetics and statistics, focusing on analysis of the frequencies of letters in language use. Although he had transitioned from being a geneticist to a cryptographer, his earlier work had resonance in his later pursuits. He soon began working directly for the United States government and produced solutions used to solve complex military ciphers, in particular to break the Japanese Purple code during World War II. Another important legacy of his work was the establishment of the Signal Intelligence Service and eventually the National Security Agency. KEYWORDS cryptogram; cryptanalysis; Baconian cipher; Riverbank LaboratoryA code is a rule that governs how one piece of information is converted into a different representation of that information. Both language and writing are elegant examples of codes developed to transmit complex concepts using symbols. Humans have used codes for millennia to communicate and to prevent communications from being discovered. The scientific approach to secret communications is a field known as cryptography. Modern cryptography makes use of complex mathematical algorithms, rather than symbols, to transform messages into encrypted forms. Decoding cryptograms requires intelligence and creativity, and this type of expertise is of great value in military strategy and tactics.

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Section: Genetics and Cryptographymentioning

confidence: 99%

William Friedman, Geneticist Turned Cryptographer

Goldman

2017

Genetics

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“…In June 1912 Bateson was invited to return to Cambridge for the newly created Arthur Balfour Professorship of Genetics, but he declined it and suggested Punnett (see Edwards 2012). Had the professorship been filled by a board of electors rather than Arthur Balfour and the prime minister, Lock might have stood a chance, but Punnett was effectively the sitting tenant and the possibility might never have crossed Lock's mind.…”

Section: R H Lock 1879-1915mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The 10 chapters of the first edition bring together discussion of evolution by natural selection, biometry (at quite an advanced level) including the law of ancestral heredity, the theory of mutation, Mendelism ( The second edition (1909) adds bibliographies to each chapter. An important addition is made to Chapter VIII: where the first edition briefly alludes to "some coupling" between two Mendelian factors, the second discusses Bateson and Punnett's case of partial gametic coupling in the sweet pea, the first observation of what came to be known later as linkage (see Edwards 2012). Chapter X "Eugenics" is entirely new, amplifying some remarks contained in the concluding chapter of the first edition.…”

Section: R H Lock 1879-1915mentioning

confidence: 99%

Robert Heath Lock and His Textbook of Genetics, 1906

Edwards

2013

Genetics

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Robert Heath Lock (1879–1915), a Cambridge botanist associated with William Bateson and R. C. Punnett, published his book Recent Progress in the Study of Variation, Heredity, and Evolution in 1906. This was a remarkable textbook of genetics for one appearing so early in the Mendelian era. It covered not only Mendelism but evolution, natural selection, biometry, mutation, and cytology. It ran to five editions but was, despite its success, largely forgotten following Lock’s early death in 1915. Nevertheless it was the book that inspired H. J. Muller to do genetics and was remembered by A. H. Sturtevant as the source of the earliest suggestion that linkage might be related to the exchange of parts between homologous chromosomes. Here we also put forward evidence that it had a major influence on the statistician and geneticist R. A. Fisher at the time he was a mathematics student at Cambridge.

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“…In 1911 Willis moved to Rio de Janiero as director of the botanic gardens there, but Lock, not wishing to succeed him in Ceylon, returned to England in 1912, spending the first few months after his return writing a second book Rubber and Rubber Planting (1913). In June 1912 Bateson was invited to return to Cambridge for the newly created Arthur Balfour Professorship of Genetics, but he declined it and suggested Punnett (see Edwards 2012). Had the professorship been filled by a board of electors rather than Arthur Balfour and the prime minister, Lock might have stood a chance, but Punnett was effectively the sitting tenant and the possibility might never have crossed Lock's mind.…”

Section: R H Lock 1879-1915mentioning

confidence: 99%

Robert Heath Lock and his textbook of genetics, 1906

Phylogenetic Inference, Selection Theory, and History of Science

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This was a remarkable textbook of genetics for one appearing so early in the Mendelian era. It covered not only Mendelism but evolution, natural selection, biometry, mutation, and cytology. It ran to five editions but was, despite its success, largely forgotten following Lock's early death in 1915. Nevertheless it was the book that inspired H. J. Muller to do genetics and was remembered by A. H. Sturtevant as the source of the earliest suggestion that linkage might be related to the exchange of parts between homologous chromosomes. Here we also put forward evidence that it had a major influence on the statistician and geneticist R. A. Fisher at the time he was a mathematics student at Cambridge.

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Reginald Crundall Punnett: First Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics, Cambridge, 1912

Cited by 7 publications

References 48 publications

William Friedman, Geneticist Turned Cryptographer

William Friedman, Geneticist Turned Cryptographer

Robert Heath Lock and His Textbook of Genetics, 1906

Robert Heath Lock and his textbook of genetics, 1906

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