ESP Digital Books: Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress of Genetics, Ithaca, New York, 1932

ESP Digital Book

Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress of Genetics, Ithaca, New York, 1932

Donald F. Jones

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Donald Forsha Jones was a United States maize geneticist and practical corn breeder at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven. Beginning at the station in 1914, he made high-yielding hybrid corn practical by his invention of the double-cross hybrid. In Jones' method, four inbred corn lines are used. The seed from two initial crosses are used to grow up parental hybrids for the production fields. The production fields yield seed in sufficient quantity to make the scheme practical. Until Jones invented the double-cross method, the yield from the parent lines (the inbreds) was insufficient to allow practical production of hybrid corn seed. Jones’ work received significant public attention and was used to make the first commercial hybrid corn in the 1920s. He was the sole geneticist at the Connecticut Station from 1915 until 1921. Jones was the president of the Genetics Society of America in 1935

The Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress of Genetics, held in 1932, offers a glimpse into classical genetics at the height of its power and influence. Thomas Morgan, who had just received the first Nobel Prize ever awarded in genetics, served as president of the congress. The participants list reads like a who's who of classical genetics: The three rediscovers of Mendel - Correns, de Vries, and von Tschermak - all attended the meeting. Morgan, Sturtevant, and Muller gave talks. Population genetics and the relationship of genetics to evolution was discussed by R. A. Fisher, J. B. S. Haldane, and Sewall Wright. According to the Treasurer's Report, the total cost of the meeting was $17,583.58.

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