Ernest Brown Babcock (July 10, 1877 – December 8, 1954) was an American
plant
Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...
geneticist
A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic process ...
who pioneered the understanding of plant
evolution
Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
in terms of genetics. He is particularly known for seeking to understand by field investigations and extensive experiments, the entire
polyploid
Polyploidy is a condition in which the biological cell, cells of an organism have more than two paired sets of (Homologous chromosome, homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have Cell nucleus, nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning ...
apomictic
In botany, apomixis is asexual reproduction, asexual development of seed or embryo without Fertilisation, fertilization. However, other definitions include replacement of the seed by a plantlet or replacement of the flower by bulbils.
Apomictic ...
genus ''
Crepis
''Crepis'', commonly known in some parts of the world as hawksbeard or hawk's-beard (but not to be confused with the related genus ''Hieracium'' with a similar common name), is a genus of annual and perennial flowering plants of the family Aster ...
'', in which he recognize 196 species. He published more than 100 articles and books explaining plant genetics, including the seminal textbook (with
Roy Elwood Clausen) ''Genetics in Relation to Agriculture''. He instructed
Marion Elizabeth Stilwell Cave.
References
Publications
* Carey, C.W. 2000. Babcock, Ernest Brown. American National Biography Online. Oxford University Press
External links
*
1877 births
1954 deaths
American geneticists
Modern synthesis (20th century)
University of California, Berkeley people
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