genetics

Term: genetics

Origin: Anc Greek

γενεά/ genea(=generation) <  γεννώ/geno (=birth to)

> γένεσις/genesis(=origin)

  

Coined:

Wiliam Bateson (1861-01926)

In an April,1905 letter to fellow scientist Adam Sedgwick at Cambridge in an effort to persuade him to establish a Chair in the field of heredity British geneticist, Wiliam Bateson (1861-01926)  wrote: "If the Quick Fund used for the foundation of a Professorship relating to Heredity and Variation, the best title wouldf, I think, be “the Quick Professorship of the Study of Heredity” . No simple word in common use quite gives this meaning. Such a word is badly wanted, and if it were desirable to coin one, 'Genetics' might do." In 1909 the word gene was coined by Danish botanist Wilhelm Johannsen (1857 - 1927). In 1910, Bateson co-discovered genetic linkage with geneticist Reginald Crundall Punnett, and they both continued their work together as co-founders of the Journal of Genetics. The same year, Bateson also established the term "epistasis" to explain the genetic interaction of two independent traits.

Definition:

The branch of biology that deals with heredity and variation of organisms due to inherited characteristis.

Sourse

P.S. Harper Historical and personal perspectives Hum Genet, 118(1):141-51, 2005