On this day in Yorkshire 8th August 1861: Scientist William Bateson born in Whitby

The man who first used the word “genetics” to describe the study of heredity was born in Whitby on 8th August 1861. After leaving his home town he studied at Cambridge and in the USA and rose to prominence as a leading scientist in the field of genetics. He first used this word to describe the transference of attributes from one generation to the next publicly in a lecture to delegates at the International Plant Hybridisation Conference in London in 1906. Thirteen years later he founded The Genetics Society, which to this day continues in the research and development of genetic theory in modern science.

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