Albert Francis Blakeslee (November 9, 1874 – November 16, 1954) was an American botanist. He is best known for his research on the poisonous

jimsonweed ''Datura stramonium'', known by the common names thorn apple, jimsonweed (jimson weed), devil's snare, or devil's trumpet, is a poisonous flowering plant of the nightshade family Solanaceae. It is a species belonging to the ''Datura'' genus a ...

plant and the sexuality of fungi. He was the brother of the Far East scholar

George Hubbard Blakeslee George Hubbard Blakeslee (August 27, 1871 – May 5, 1954) was an academic, professor of history and international relations at Clark University, and a founder (along with G. Stanley Hall) of the ''Journal of Race Development'', the first American ...

Early life and education

Albert Francis Blakeslee was born on November 9, 1874 in

Geneseo, New York Geneseo is a town in Livingston County in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. It is at the south end of the five-county Rochester Metropolitan Area. The population of the town was 10,483 at the 2010 census. The English name ...

, to Augusta Miranda Hubbard Blakeslee and Francis Durbin Blakeslee, a Methodist minister. Blakeslee attended

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the c ...

, graduating in 1896. At Wesleyan, Blakeslee played several sports and won academic prizes in mathematics and chemistry. He received a master's degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1900 and a doctorate in 1904. He also studied at the

University of Halle-Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...

in Germany from 1904 to 1906.

''Datura'', jimsonweed, research

Blakeslee used the

plant as a model organism for his genetic research. His experiments included using

colchicine Colchicine is a medication used to treat gout and Behçet's disease. In gout, it is less preferred to NSAIDs or steroids. Other uses for colchicine include the management of pericarditis and familial Mediterranean fever. Colchicine is tak ...

to achieve an increase in the number of

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins ar ...

s, which opened up a new field of research, creating artificial

polyploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than one pair of (homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes, where each set contain ...

s and aneuploids, and studying the

phenotypic In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology or physical form and structure, its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological proper ...

effects of polyploidy and of individual chromosomes.

Career

After graduating from Wesleyan, Blakeslee taught at the Montpelier Seminary in Vermont, as well as at the East Greenwich Academy. His first professorship was at the Connecticut Agricultural College, now known as the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

. He was hired by the

Carnegie Institution The Carnegie Institution of Washington (the organization's legal name), known also for public purposes as the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS), is an organization in the United States established to fund and perform scientific research. Th ...

in 1915, eventually becoming its director. In 1941, Blakeslee retired from the Carnegie Institution and returned to academia, accepting a professorship at

Smith College Smith College is a private liberal arts women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith and opened in 1875. It is the largest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite women's c ...

. He would go on to direct the Smith College Genetics Experimentation Station. At Smith, he performed his research on jimsonweed.

Personal life

Blakeslee married Margaret Dickson Bridges in 1919.

Death

Blakeslee died in

Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571. Northampton is known as an a ...

on November 16, 1954. He was 80 years old.

Awards

Blakeslee was awarded the

Bowdoin Prize The Bowdoin Prizes are prestigious awards given annually to Harvard University undergraduate and graduate students. From the income of the bequest of Governor James Bowdoin, AB 1745, prizes are offered to students at the University in graduate and ...

for this discovery of sexual fusion in

fungi A fungus (plural, : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and Mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified ...

Selected works

* * * * * * * * * * * *

References

Blakeslee, Albert Francis
(2005)

Encyclopædia Britannica The ( Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various ...

. Retrieved December 1, 2005, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online *''Who's Who in New England'', 1909, p. 115. Retrieved fro
Google Book Search.

External links

*
Albert Francis Blakeslee Papers
at the

Smith College Archives Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college with coed graduate and certificate programs, located in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. The Smith College Archives document the life of the College by collecting mater ...

, Smith College Special Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:Blakeslee, Albert Francis American mycologists 1874 births 1954 deaths Smith College faculty University of Connecticut faculty Botanical Society of America Wesleyan University alumni Harvard University alumni 20th-century American botanists