Sinnott, Edmund W. (Edmund Ware), 1888-1958

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Botanist and historian; taught botany at University of Connecticut, Barnard, and Yale.

From the description of Edmund Ware Sinnott papers, 1923-1981. (New Haven Colony Historical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 319705878

Edmund Ware Sinnott received an A.B. degree from Harvard in 1908, an A.M. in 1910, and a Ph.D. in 1913. He was on the faculty of Harvard University from 1908 to 1915. Sinnott was a professor of botany at the Connecticut Agricultural College from 1915 to 1928; at Barnard College from 1928 to 1939; at Columbia University from 1939 to 1940; and at Yale University from 1940 to 1956. At Yale he also served as chairman of the biology department, 1940-1950; director of the Sheffield Scientific School, 1945-1956; and dean of the Graduate School, 1950-1956. Sinnott died on January 6, 1968.

From the description of Edmund Ware Sinnott papers, 1904-1968 (inclusive). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702166888

Edmund Ware Sinnott received an A.B. degree from Harvard University in 1908, an A.M. in 1910, and a Ph.D. in 1913. He was on the faculty of Harvard University from 1908 to 1915. Sinnott was a professor of botany at the Connecticut Agricultural College from 1915 to 1928; at Barnard College from 1928 to 1939; at Columbia University from 1939 to 1940; and at Yale University from 1940 to 1956. At Yale he also served as chairman of the biology department, 1940-1950; director of the Sheffield Scientific School, 1945-1956; and dean of the Graduate School, 1950-1956. Sinnott died on January 6, 1968.

From the guide to the Edmund Ware Sinnott papers, 1904-1968, (Manuscripts and Archives)

Albert Francis Blakeslee, a geneticist and botanist, served as the director of Smith College Genetics Experiment Station from 1943-1954.

Albert Blakeslee's boyhood was spent in East Greenwich, Connecticut, where he early exhibited a strong liking for natural history. This leaning was not encouraged by his pragmatic father, who wanted the boy's education to plan for a financially independent career; but his mother was more sympathetic. After the two years of teaching at Montpelier Academy in Vermont, his natural inclinations were not to be denied, and he entered graduate study at Harvard with a determination to become a botanist. His Harvard professors, Farlow and Thaxter, greatly helped Blakeslee's development as a botanist. He engaged in a classification of the Mucors and discovered the positive and (sexual) zygospores and observed their sexual fusion to start the diploid phase of the Mucor life cycle. His summer in Venezuela as a plant collector for the Harvard Cryptogamic Herbarium (1903) and his two summers of teaching nature study in the Cold Spring Harbor courses broadened his knowledge of plants and generated in him a deep love of teaching. Thus, when he went to Germany for a postdoctoral fellowship in 1904, he was already becoming well known as a botanist.

At the University of Halle he worked under the distinguished mycologist Klebs for two years, with some stay during the period at the Universities of Berlin, Leipzig, and Oxford. This fellowship was supported by the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Blakeslee became fluent in the German language, as became apparent in later years when such a distinguished authority as Erwin Baur, plant geneticist, sent to Blakeslee in preference to any other English-speaking biologist a copy of his proposed publication on the dysgenic effects upon German life and culture of the post-war occupation of Germany's Rhineland by the French. Baur requested Blakeslee to be so good as to translate the communication into good English, edit it, and submit it for him to some American journal, such as Eugenical Notes, edited by Davenport. The original manuscript by Baur, the translation and very extensive editing -- really a toning down -- by Blakeslee, and the subsequent letter of withdrawal of the communication by Baur are all in the Blakeslee Papers, an invaluable addition to our knowledge of the course of German eugenics in the period between the two World Wars (see B. Glass, "A Hidden Chapter of German eugenics between the two World Wars," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 125: 357-367, 1981). While in Germany Blakeslee spent much time in art museums and attendance at concerts, and formed cultural tastes that were a lifelong joy to him.

Upon returning from Germany, Blakeslee accepted an appointment as professor of botany at the Connecticut Agricultural College, later to become the University of Connecticut. He taught many courses, in summer as well as during the regular year, and collaborated with C.D. Jervis in two popular handbooks for the identification of trees in New England and in winter. He made crosses of tree species, and successfully produced the first interspecific hybrid pine. His broad concern with social applications of botany and with teaching are to be seen in his paper presented in an American Association for the Advancement of Science symposium in 1909 on the subject, "The Botanic Garden as a Field Museum of Agriculture." He also conducted research on the genetics of poultry, and found certain genetic traits with visible effects that were linked with high egg yield; also he uncovered a negative correlation between yellow color and the time of a year when the last egg is laid. He discovered that Rudbeckia hirta, the black-eyed Susan, is a frequently mutating species. Beginning what was to become his most famous genetical work, that with the jimson weed, Datura stramonium, he worked out the simple Mendelian inheritance of white versus purple flower color and of spiny versus smooth seed capsules. In 1914-1915, he gave, at Storrs, the first college course in genetics in the United States. Also, while on leave and at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory as a research investigator, he resumed his early work on the Mucors; and in Datura found, in 1913, his first trisomic type, the "Globe" seedpod type, which has 2N + 1 chromosomes.

In 1915 Blakeslee was invited by C. B. Davenport, Director of the Carnegie Institution of Washington Station for Experimental Evolution at Cold Spring Harbor, to fill the place just vacated by George Harrison Shull, who was transferring to Princeton University. Blakeslee accepted, although he much regretted the loss of his opportunities to teach. He remained at Cold Spring Harbor until he retired in 1941, at the age of 67. He became greatly renowned for his work on Datura stramonium, in which he eventually found a trisomic type for every one of the twelve chromosome pairs in the species, each type recognizable by a distinctive phenotype of the seed capsule. With his assistants, he raised as many as 70,000 Datura plants in each summer. In 1920, he was joined by John Belling, a gifted cytologist, as his collaborator. They developed the skilled art of making acetocarmine stains of smeared plant chromosomes, a technique that became universally adopted as an enormous time-saver and also one productive of better microscopic differentiation of the chromosomes in the set. The typical chromosome numbers for many species of flowering plants were determined by the team.

In 1924, Dorothy Bergner replaced John Belling as Blakeslee's principal coworker. With Bergner, Blakeslee discovered a thirteenth trisomic in Datura. As there are only 12 chromosome pairs, a different explanation was sought, and found. There are also secondary trisomics, in which one arm of a primary chromosome has been doubled while its other arm is missing. Such a chromosome, added to the 12 types in which an entire chromosome is extra, greatly increases the diversity of chromosomal types. In search of the origin of these secondaries, numerous translocation types were found, types in which parts of two primary chromosomes had undergone a reciprocal interchange. In the pairing of homologous chromosomes that takes place during meiosis, these aberrations give rise to rings of four associated chromosomes, two normal plus two translocation chromosomes in the ring. Non-disjunction is a frequent consequence, and additional types of trisomics result. The discovery in natural populations of so much chromosomal diversity was a stepping-stone to the new evolutionary synthesis of the 1930s. Polyploid and triploid Daturas were also found, as populations from various parts of the world were analyzed. In 1937 it was discovered that colchicine will paralyze mitotic cell division and give rise to cells in which the chromosome number has been doubled. Using this technique, Blakeslee and Bergner produced polyploids, periclinal chimeras; and a new research assistant, Sophie Satina, collaborated in working out cell lineages during plant development.

Other collaborations, going back many years, were with E.W. Sinnott on quantitative inheritance, with I.T. Buchholz on pollen tube growth, with C.S. Gager on the use of radium to produce mutations. By means of exposures to radium or X-rays, 541 different gene loci were identified by mutation, 81 of which were mapped to a specific chromosome. It was also found that there was an increase of mutations during the storage of seeds. With I. van Overbeek, Blakeslee applied the techniques of tissue culture to the study of Datura genetic types.

In 1931, Blakeslee became deeply interested in the human inheritance of taste sensitivity to a chemical substance, PTC (phenylthiocarbamide). It is intensely bitter to most persons, but tasteless to others. Blakeslee checked this capacity in identical twins and found they were always similar in their capacity to taste PTC, or inability to taste it. He gave many popular lectures and demonstrations of this novel aspect of human heredity.

Blakeslee became involved in the administration of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory as early as 1923, and moved to greater and greater responsibility as Davenport aged. Upon Davenport's retirement in 1936, Blakeslee was the natural choice to succeed him. By this time he was one of America's foremost geneticists. He had helped to reorganize the American Journal of Botany in 1935, had been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and to the American Philosophical Society, and had been honored by many foreign scientific and learned organizations.

Upon retiring at Cold Spring Harbor, Blakeslee spent two years as a research associate at Columbia University, but found in 1942 an ideal situation for his "retirement" years in an appointment as a visiting professor at Smith College. Here he started up a four-college conference (Smith College, Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, and Massachusetts State College -- later the University of Massachusetts) on Genetics, and a second on Human Relations. He initiated an active program of genetics at Smith College. With Miss Satina, he continued research on Datura by utilizing the technique of raising plant embryos in cell culture, in order to determine at what stage of development particular abnormal types led to deviations from normality, and just what they were. He became president of the Smith College Faculty Club, and worked to improve the conditions of retired faculty members. He spent much effort on human relations of the town-gown sort. As in previous periods of his life, he attended many foreign scientific congresses, for example, all of the Botanical Congresses (until 1950), and the Indian Scientific Congress in 1947. He was a visiting lecturer at Harvard University in 1948-1949. Upon his death, he left his estate to the National Academy of Sciences as trustee to provide continued assistance in maintaining and further developing a balanced genetics research program at Smith College. His personality was marked by great versatility, good humor, and a live social conscience. He was generous in giving credit to others in joint activities, yet in general somewhat reticent. These traits are reflected in some of his correspondence.

From the guide to the Albert Francis Blakeslee papers, 1904-1954, 1904-1954, (American Philosophical Society)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Rose, H. Wickliffe (Harold Wickliffe), 1896-1970. Harold Wickliffe Rose papers, 1924-1972 (inclusive). Yale University Library
referencedIn General Faculty and Faculty Council of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1799-2011 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. University Archives and Records Service
creatorOf Sinnott, Edmund Ware, 1888-1968. Edmund Ware Sinnott papers, 1923-1981. New Haven Colony Historical Society Library
creatorOf Sinnott, Edmund W. (Edmund Ware), 1888-1958. The dilemma of the intellectual : [commencement address delivered at Mount Holyoke College June 3, 1956] / Edmund W. Sinnott. Mount Holyoke College, Williston & Miles-Smith Library
referencedIn William B. Provine collection of evolutionary biology reprints, 20th century. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
creatorOf Owens, Claire Myers. Claire Myers Owens collection, 1868-1983. Texas Woman's University Library, Mary Evelyn Blagg-Huey Library
creatorOf Sinnott, Edmund W. (Edmund Ware), 1888-1958. [Selections] New York Botanical Garden, The LuEsther T. Mertz Library
creatorOf Edmund Ware Sinnott papers, 1904-1968 Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
creatorOf Yale University. Dept. of Botany. Department of Botany, Yale University, Records 1907-1950 (inclusive). Yale University Library
creatorOf American Association for the Advancement of Science. Letters, 1948-1971, to Lewis Mumford. University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library
referencedIn Jones, Edward P., d. 1953. Congregational meeting houses in Connecticut : 190 white Connecticut meeting houses and 54 brick or stone edifices : erected by Congregational Churches organized between one hundred and three hundred and eighteen years ago / Edward P. Jones, 1948. Winterthur Library
referencedIn Ernst Mayr papers, 1946, 1974-1979, Bulk, 1974-1979, 1946-1979 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Blakeslee, Albert Francis, 1874-1954. Papers, 1904-1954. American Philosophical Society Library
creatorOf Sinnott, Edmund Ware, 1888-. Edmund Ware Sinnott papers, 1904-1968 (inclusive). Yale University Library
creatorOf Albert Francis Blakeslee papers, 1904-1954, 1904-1954 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn American Philosophical Society Library. Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection. 1668-1983. American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Letters to Albert Hanford Moore, 1896-1916 (inclusive), 1906-1912 (bulk). Botany Libraries
referencedIn Mayr, Ernst, 1904-2005. Papers, 1946, 1974-1979. American Philosophical Society Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Agassiz, Louis, 1807-1873 person
associatedWith American Association for the Advancement of Science. corporateBody
associatedWith American Philosophical Society. corporateBody
associatedWith Banks, Joseph, Sir, 1743-1820 person
associatedWith Barnard College corporateBody
associatedWith Blakeslee, Albert Francis, 1874-1954. person
associatedWith Buchholz, J. T., (John Theodore), 1888-1951 person
associatedWith Bush, Vannevar, 1890-1974 person
associatedWith Carnegie Institution of Washington. corporateBody
associatedWith Cleland, Ralph E., (Ralph Erskine), 1892-1971 person
associatedWith Columbia University corporateBody
associatedWith Cooper, Thomas, 1759-1839 person
associatedWith Coues, Elliott, 1842-1899 person
associatedWith Cuvier, Georges, Baron, 1769-1832 person
associatedWith Darlington, William, 1782-1863 person
associatedWith Davenport, Charles Benedict, 1866-1944 person
associatedWith Davis, Bradley M., (Bradley Moore), b. 1871 person
associatedWith Edison, Thomas A., (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931 person
associatedWith Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955 person
associatedWith Everett, Edward, 1794-1865 person
associatedWith Fitch, John person
associatedWith Flynn, John E., (John Edward), 1897-1965 person
associatedWith Genth, F. A., (Frederick Augustus), 1820-1893 person
associatedWith Gray, Asa, 1810-1888 person
associatedWith Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872 person
associatedWith Harding, Warren G. person
associatedWith Hyde, James Hazen, 1876-1959 person
associatedWith Institut de France. corporateBody
associatedWith Jones, Edward P., d. 1953. person
associatedWith Manter, Jerauld A., 1889-1990. person
associatedWith Mayr, Ernst, 1904-2005. person
associatedWith Mount Holyoke College corporateBody
associatedWith Newcomb, Simon person
associatedWith Newton, Isaac, Sir, 1642-1727 person
associatedWith Owens, Claire Myers. person
associatedWith Poinsett, Joel Roberts, 1779-1851 person
correspondedWith Provine, William B. person
associatedWith Rittenhouse, David, 1732-1796 person
associatedWith Robbins, William Jacob, 1890-1978 person
associatedWith Rose, H. Wickliffe (Harold Wickliffe), 1896-1970. person
associatedWith Rush, Benjamin, 1746-1813 person
associatedWith Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe, 1793-1864 person
associatedWith Seybert, Adam, 1773-1825 person
associatedWith Shull, George Harrison, 1874-1954 person
associatedWith Smith College. Genetics Experiment Station. corporateBody
associatedWith Sparks, Jared, 1789-1866 person
associatedWith Stevens, Henry person
associatedWith Sully, Thomas, 1783-1872 person
associatedWith Thomson, Charles, 1729-1824 person
associatedWith University of Connecticut. corporateBody
associatedWith University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. General Faculty. corporateBody
associatedWith Waksman, Selman A., (Selman Abraham), 1888-1973 person
associatedWith Waterton, Charles, 1782-1865 person
associatedWith Wayne, Anthony person
associatedWith Wilson, Edwin Bidwell, 1879-1964 person
associatedWith Yale University corporateBody
associatedWith Yale University. Dept. of Botany. corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
New England
Germany
Subject
Beans
Blood groups
Botany
Church architecture
Church architecture
Church buildings
Church buildings
Colchicine
Datura
Embryology
Geneticists
Genetics
Horticulture
Intellectuals
Science
Occupation
Botanists
Historians
Photographers
Activity

Person

Birth 1888-02-05

Death 1968-01-06

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