Article ID: CBB001321057

William Bateson and the Chromosome Theory of Heredity: A Reappraisal (2014)

unapi

William Bateson vigorously objected to the assumptions within the chromosome theory of heredity proposed by T. H. Morgan because he perceived inadequate experimental data that could substantiate the theory. Those objections were largely resolved by 1921, and Bateson reluctantly accepted the basic assumption that chromosomes carried the genetic factors from one generation to the next. Bateson's own research at that time on developmental genetics seemed out of touch with the general tone of the genetics field, and the chromosome theory did not provide illuminating mechanisms that elucidated phenomena such as plant variegations or chimeras. Bateson imagined a general theory of heredity and development based on vortices and waves, concepts he borrowed from contemporary physics. For decades he sought to devise an intellectually and aesthetically satisfying theory to eventually explain evolution in genetic terms, but his aspirations remained unfulfilled when he died in 1926

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Authors & Contributors
Simunek, Michal
Radick, Gregory
Chadarevian, Soraya de
Pereira Martins, Lilian Al-Chueyr
Volpone, Alessandro
Tschermak-Seysenegg, Erich von
Journals
Journal of the History of Biology
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Science and Education
Philosophy of Science
Nature Reviews Genetics
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences
Publishers
Centre for Sciences and Humanities of the Institute of Contemporary History of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
University of Chicago Press
Greenwood Press
Concepts
Genetics
Heredity
Chromosomes
Mendelism
Biology
Science and culture
People
Bateson, William
Morgan, Thomas Hunt
Galton, Francis
Weldon, Walter Frank Raphael
Tschermak-Seysenegg, Erich von
Pearson, Karl
Time Periods
20th century, early
20th century
19th century
21st century
20th century, late
18th century
Places
United States
Great Britain
England
Germany
Institutions
Human Genome Project
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