Douglas Scott Falconer
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Douglas Scott Falconer (10 March 1913 in
Oldmeldrum Oldmeldrum (commonly known as Meldrum) is a village and Civil parish, parish in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire, not far from Inverurie in North East Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region), North East Scotland. With a population of ...
,
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– 23 February 2004 in
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
) was a Scottish geneticist known for his work in
quantitative genetics Quantitative genetics is the study of quantitative traits, which are phenotypes that vary continuously—such as height or mass—as opposed to phenotypes and gene-products that are Categorical variable, discretely identifiable—such as eye-col ...
. Falconer's book ''Introduction to quantitative genetics'' was written in 1960 and became a valuable reference for generations of scientists. Its latest edition dates back to 1996 and is coauthored by
Trudy Mackay Trudy Frances Charlene Mackay (born 10 September 1952) is the director of Clemson University's Center for Human Genetics located on the campus of the Greenwood Genetic Center. She is recognized as one of the world's leading authorities on the g ...
. Falconer graduated with first class honors in
zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...
from the
University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...
in 1940. He then received his
PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
from the
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
in 1943. He eventually got an honorary ScD from Cambridge in 1969. In 1951, Falconer described a novel mouse mutant that he called
reeler A reeler is a mouse mutant, so named because of its characteristic "reeling" gait. This is caused by the profound underdevelopment of the mouse's cerebellum, a segment of the brain responsible for locomotion. The mutation is autosomal and rece ...
for its peculiar gait. Later research using these mice has led to the discovery of
reelin Reelin, encoded by the ''RELN'' gene, is a large secreted extracellular matrix glycoprotein that helps regulate processes of neuronal migration and positioning in the developing brain by controlling cell–cell interactions. Besides this importa ...
, a protein playing important roles in
corticogenesis The development of the cerebral cortex, known as corticogenesis is the process during which the cerebral cortex of the brain is formed as part of the development of the nervous system of mammals including development of the nervous system in humans ...
,
neuronal migration The development of the nervous system, or neural development (neurodevelopment), refers to the processes that generate, shape, and reshape the nervous system of animals, from the earliest stages of embryonic development to adulthood. The field ...
, and
plasticity Plasticity may refer to: Science * Plasticity (physics), in engineering and physics, the propensity of a solid material to undergo permanent deformation under load * Behavioral plasticity, change in an organism's behavior in response to exposur ...
. In 1964, he introduced the use of liability threshold models into human disease & trait modeling. In 1973, he was announced as a
Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
(FRS).


See also

*
Falconer's formula Heritability is the proportion of variance caused by genetic factors of a specific trait in a population. Falconer's formula is a mathematical formula that is used in twin studies to estimate the relative contribution of genetic vs. environmental ...


References

1913 births 2004 deaths Alumni of the University of St Andrews Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Scottish geneticists Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh People from Oldmeldrum Academics of the University of Edinburgh Genetic epidemiologists {{Geneticist-stub