Famous British Geneticists

Ronald Fisher was a British polymath, statistician, geneticist, mathematician, and academic. He is credited to have single-handedly created the foundations for modern statistical science. He made important contributions to the field of genetics and is known as one of the three principal founders of population genetics. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1929. 

British geneticist J.B.S. Haldane is remembered for his pioneering use of statistics in biology. A proponent of neo-Darwinism, he was the son of physiologist John Scott Haldane and had begun assisting his father at age 8. He later joined the British Communist Party and also moved to India.

Geneticist Anne McLaren is remembered for her pioneering research in embryology that paved the way for further research in fertility treatments such as in-vitro fertilization. The Royal Society fellow had also appeared as a child actor in the film adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel Things to Come.

One of the most influential evolutionary biologists of his generation, John Maynard Smith was originally aeronautical engineer. Later, he took a second degree in genetics and did extensive research on subjects like population genetics and evolution of sex. Known for formalizing the central concept in evolutionary game theory, he introduced the evolutionarily stable strategy, impacting a wide variety of studies.  

British biologist Ian Wilmut revolutionized embryology by leading the team of researchers who successfully created the first cloned mammal, the sheep named Dolly. A leading proponent of cryopreservation, he also implanted the first calf embryo, Frostie, in a surrogate cow. He was later knighted for his achievements.

Cyril Burt was an English geneticist and educational psychologist who also made immense contributions to statistics. A prolific writer, Cyril Burt published several books and articles on topics ranging from psychometrics to parapsychology over the course of his career.

Reginald Punnett was a British geneticist who is credited with creating the Punnett square, which is used by biologists even today to evaluate the probability of genotypes of offspring. He is also credited with co-founding the Journal of Genetics alongside William Bateson in 1910. Reginald Punnett’s book Mendelism is considered by some to be the first textbook on genetics.

British embryologist C.H. Waddington had studied paleontology before turning to biology. A professor of zoology and embryology, he later also taught animal genetics. His interests also included poetry, painting, and Marxism. He introduced concepts such as epigenetic landscape and genetic assimilation, and penned books such as Principles of Embryology.

Ecological geneticist B. Ford is remembered for his extensive research on natural selection. An Oxford professor, he had also penned books such as Mendelism and Evolution and Genetic Polymorphism. The Darwin Medal winner introduced the technique of marking animal specimens to determine their population. Single for life, he was considered eccentric.

Biologist C. D. Darlington is remembered for his pathbreaking research on chromosomes, which later contributed to further research on evolution. He had a poverty-stricken childhood but later became an Oxford professor of botany. He penned books such as The Evolution of Man and Society, which claimed intelligence was hereditary.

British physician and geneticist Cyril Clarke revolutionized science with his pioneering work on the genetics of butterflies and moths. He also developed a technique to prevent Rh disease in newborn babies, thus developing the scope of 20th-century preventive medicine significantly. He later won awards such as the Buchanan Medal.

Known especially for her work on trait inheritance in plants, Edith Rebecca Saunders has been described as the mother of British plant genetics. Beginning her career as a botany teacher at Newnham College, she later became the director of the Balfour Biological Laboratory for Women, concurrently continuing with her own research works, publishing series of papers on inheritance in plants.

British baronet and MP Egerton Brydges was also a significant writer and genealogist, and had edited some major texts of his time, such as Edward Phillips’s Theatrum Poetarum and Arthur Collins’s Peerage of England. He had also formed an affluent bibliophiles’ club named the Roxburghe Club.