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Edmund Brisco "Henry" Ford
Edmund Brisco "Henry" Ford
Edmund Brisco "Henry" Ford
Born 23rd April 1901
Papcastle, Cumbria
Died 2nd January 1988
Nationality British
Fields ecological geneticist
Alma mater Oxford University
Notable awards Royal Society's Darwin Medal

Professor Edmund Brisco "Henry" Ford, FRS, Hon. Events 215 BC - A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Year 1901 ( MCMI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Papcastle is a village and Civil parish in the English county of Cumbria. Boundaries and divisions Cumbria is neighboured by Northumberland, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the Lieutenancy Events 366 - The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers invading the Roman Empire. Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Ecological genetics is the study of Genetics in the context of the interactions among organisms and between the organisms and their environment Alma mater is Latin for "nourishing mother" It was used in Ancient Rome as a title for the mother Goddess, and in Medieval The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a Learned society for science that was founded in 1660 The Darwin Medal is given by the Royal Society every even year for "work of acknowledged distinction in the broad area of Biology in which Charles Darwin The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a Learned society for science that was founded in 1660 FRCP (23rd April 1901-2nd January 1988) was a British ecological geneticist. The Royal College of Physicians of London was the first medical institution in England to receive a Royal Charter Events 215 BC - A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Year 1901 ( MCMI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Events 366 - The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers invading the Roman Empire. Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Ecological genetics is the study of Genetics in the context of the interactions among organisms and between the organisms and their environment He was a leader among those British biologists who investigated the role of natural selection in nature. Natural selection is the process by which favorable Heritable traits become more common in successive Generations of a Population of As a schoolboy Ford became interested in lepidoptera, the group of insects which includes butterflies and moths. Lepidoptera is an order of Insect that includes Moths and butterflies. Insects ( Class Insecta) are a major group of Arthropods and the most diverse group of Animals on the Earth with over a million described A butterfly is an Insect of the order Lepidoptera. Like all Lepidoptera butterflies are notable for their unusual life cycle with a A moth is an Insect closely related to the Butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. He went on to study the genetics of natural populations, and invented the field of ecological genetics. Ecological genetics is the study of Genetics in the context of the interactions among organisms and between the organisms and their environment Ford was awarded the Royal Society's Darwin Medal in 1954. The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a Learned society for science that was founded in 1660 The Darwin Medal is given by the Royal Society every even year for "work of acknowledged distinction in the broad area of Biology in which Charles Darwin Later, in 1968, he was awarded UNESCO's Kalinga Prize for the popularisation of science[1]. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on November 16 The Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science is an Award given by UNESCO for exceptional skill in presenting scientific ideas to lay people.

Ford was born in Papcastle, Cumbria, England in 1901. Papcastle is a village and Civil parish in the English county of Cumbria. Boundaries and divisions Cumbria is neighboured by Northumberland, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the Lieutenancy England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland He was educated at Wadham College, Oxford University, graduating in zoology in 1924. Wadham College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, located at the southern end of Parks Road The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the

Contents

Life

Ford never married, had no children, and was considered decidedly eccentric. Non-academic information on his life is hard to come by, mostly consisting of scattered remarks made by colleagues. He campaigned strenuously against the admission of female Fellows to All Souls College. All Souls College (in full The Warden and College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges Miriam Rothschild, an outstanding zoologist, was one of the few women with whom Ford was on good terms. Dame Miriam Louisa Rothschild DBE, FRS ( 5 August 1908 &mdash 20 January 2005) was a British Zoologist Rothschild and Ford campaigned for the legalisation of male homosexuality in Britain. Homosexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of the same sex or to a Homosexual orientation. Ford was on good terms with Theodosius Dobzhansky, who did ground-breaking work on ecological genetics with Drosophila species: they exchanged letters and visits. Theodosius Grygorovych Dobzhansky, also known Drosophila is a Genus of small flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "fruit flies"

Marren (1995) has a biographical chapter on him; Ford also had a biographical memoir from The Royal Society. The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a Learned society for science that was founded in 1660 [2]

Career

Ford's career was based entirely at Oxford University. The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the A.J. Cain said he took a degree in classics before turning to zoology. Professor Arthur James Cain FRS ( 25 July 1921 &ndash 20 August 1999) was a British evolutionary biologist and ecologist [3] Ford read zoology at Oxford, and was taught genetics by Julian Huxley. Sir Julian Sorell Huxley FRS ( 22 June 1887 &ndash 14 February 1975) was an English Evolutionary biologist "The lecturer whose interests most closely reflected mine was Julian Huxley. I owe him a great debt, especially for inspiration. . . Even though Huxley was. . . only at Oxford from 1919 to 1925, he was the most powerful voice in developing the selectionist attitude there. . . I met Ray Lankester through E.B. Poulton. Sir E Ray Lankester KCB, FRS ( May 15, 1847 – August 13, 1929) was a British Zoologist, born in Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton ( January 27 1856 &ndash November 20 1943) was a British evolutionary zoologist He was already an old man. . . but talked to me a good deal of Charles Darwin and Pasteur, both of whom he knew. Charles Robert Darwin (February 12 1809 &ndash April 19 1882 was an English naturalist, who realised and demonstrated that all Species of life Louis Pasteur (27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895 a French Chemist and Microbiologist, is best known for remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and " [4]

Ford was appointed University Demonstrator in Zoology in 1927 and Lecturer at University College, Oxford in 1933. University College (in full the The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as Univ) is one of Specialising in genetics, he was appointed University Reader in Genetics in 1939 and was the Director of the Genetics Laboratory, 1952-1969, and Professor of Ecological Genetics 1963-1969. Ford was one of the first scientists to be elected a Fellow of All Souls College since the seventeenth century. A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade All Souls College (in full The Warden and College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges

Ford had a long working relationship with R.A. Fisher. Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher, FRS ( 17 February 1890 – 29 July 1962) was an English Statistician, Evolutionary By the time Ford had developed his formal definition of genetic polymorphism,[5] Fisher had got accustomed to high selection values in nature. Polymorphism in biology occurs when two or more clearly different Phenotypes exist in the same population of a species — in other words the occurrence of more than one He was most impressed by the fact that polymorphism concealed powerful selective forces (Ford gave human blood groups as an example). A blood type (also called a blood group) is a classification of Blood based on the presence or absence of inherited Antigenic substances on the Like Fisher, he continued the natural selection versus genetic drift debate with Sewall Wright, whom Ford believed put too much emphasis on genetic drift. Natural selection is the process by which favorable Heritable traits become more common in successive Generations of a Population of In Population genetics, genetic drift is the accumulation of random events that change the makeup of a gene pool slightly but often compound over time Sewall Green Wright ( December 21, 1889 – March 3, 1988) was an American Geneticist It was as a result of Ford's work, as well as his own, that Dobzhansky changed the emphasis in the third edition of his famous text from drift to selection. Theodosius Grygorovych Dobzhansky, also known [6]

Ford was an experimental naturalist who wanted to test evolution in nature. He virtually invented the field of research known as ecological genetics. Ecological genetics is the study of Genetics in the context of the interactions among organisms and between the organisms and their environment His work on the wild populations of butterflies and moths was the first to show that the predictions made by R.A. Fisher were correct. Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher, FRS ( 17 February 1890 – 29 July 1962) was an English Statistician, Evolutionary He was the first to describe and define genetic polymorphism, and predicted that human blood group polymorphisms might be maintained in the population by providing some protection against disease[7]. Polymorphism in biology occurs when two or more clearly different Phenotypes exist in the same population of a species — in other words the occurrence of more than one The International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT currently recognises 30 major blood group systems (including the ABO and Rh systems Six years after this prediction it was found to be so,[8] and furthermore, heterozygous advantage was decisively established by a study of AB x AB crosses. [9] His magnum opus was Ecological Genetics, which ran to four editions and was widely influential. [10] He laid much of the groundwork for subsequent studies in this field, and was invited as a consultant to help set up similar research groups in several other countries.

Amongst Ford's many publications, perhaps the most popularly successful was the first book in the New Naturalist series, Butterflies. The New Naturalist books are a series published by Collins in the United Kingdom, on a variety of Natural history topics relevant to the British Isles [11] Ford also went on in 1955 to write Moths [12] in the same series, one of only a few to have authored more than one book in the series. Year 1955 ( MCMLV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar)

Ford became Professor, and then Emeritus Professor of Ecological Genetics, University of Oxford. The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the He was a Fellow of All Souls College, and Honorary Fellow of Wadham College. All Souls College (in full The Warden and College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges Wadham College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, located at the southern end of Parks Road He was elected FRS in 1946, and awarded the Darwin Medal in 1954. The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a Learned society for science that was founded in 1660 The Darwin Medal is given by the Royal Society every even year for "work of acknowledged distinction in the broad area of Biology in which Charles Darwin

Ecological genetics

E. B. Ford worked for many years on genetic polymorphism. Polymorphism in biology occurs when two or more clearly different Phenotypes exist in the same population of a species — in other words the occurrence of more than one [13] Polymorphism in natural populations is frequent; the key feature is the occurrence together of two or more discontinuous forms of a species in some kind of balance. So long as the proportions of each form is above mutation rate, then selection must be the cause. As early as 1930 Fisher had discussed a situation where, with alleles at a single locus, the heterozygote is more viable than either homozygote. That is a typical genetic mechanism for causing this type of polymorphism. The work involves a synthesis of field observations, taxonomy, and laboratory genetics. [14] [15]

Peppered moth

Ford was the supervisor of Bernard Kettlewell during Kettlewell's famous experiments on the evolution of melanism in the peppered moth, Biston betularia. Henry Bernard Davis Kettlewell ( 24 February 1907 - 1979 was a British Geneticist, Lepidopterist and Medical doctor, who The evolution of the Peppered moth over the last two hundred years has been studied in detail The peppered moth ( Biston betularia) is a temperate species of night-flying Moth.

The entomologist Michael Majerus discussed criticisms that had been made of Kettlewell's experimental methods in his 1998 book Melanism: Evolution in Action. Dr Michael E N Majerus (born 1954 is a Geneticist at the University of Cambridge, and the author of several books Melanism Evolution in Action (ISBN 0-19-854982-2 is a book by Dr Mike Majerus, published in 1998 [16] This book was misrepresented in reviews, and the story was picked up by creationist campaigners. "Creationism" can also refer to Creation myths in general or to a concept about the origin of the soul. In her controversial book Of Moths and Men, Judith Hooper (2002) gave a critical account of Ford's supervision and relationship with Kettlewell, and implied that the work was fraudulent or at least incompetent. Of Moths and Men is a Controversial book by the Journalist Judith Hooper about the Oxford University Ecological genetics Careful studies of Kettlewell's surviving papers by Rudge (2005) and Young (2004) found Hooper's suggestion of fraud to be unjustified, and that "Hooper does not provide one shred of evidence to support this serious allegation”. [17][18] Majerus himself described Of Moths and Men as "littered with errors, misrepresentations, misinterpretations and falsehoods". Of Moths and Men is a Controversial book by the Journalist Judith Hooper about the Oxford University Ecological genetics [16]

Bibliography

Works by Ford

References

  1. ^ Clarke, C (1988), “Edmund Brisco Ford (1902-1988).”, Nature 332 (6159): 20, 1988 Mar 3, PMID:3279315, doi:10.1038/332020a0, <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3279315> 
  2. ^ Clarke B 1995. Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) Nature is a prominent Scientific journal, first published on 4 November 1869 PMID is an Acronym for PubMed Identifier or more specifically PubMed Unique Identifier which is a unique number assigned to each PubMed A digital object identifier ( DOI) is a permanent identifier given to an Electronic document. Edmund Brisco Ford. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society of London
  3. ^ Cain A. J. and Provine W.B. 1992. Professor William B Provine is an American historian of science, particularly of Evolutionary biology and Population genetics. In Berry R.J. et al (eds) Genes in ecology. Robert James "Sam" Berry (born 1934 is a British Geneticist, naturalist and Christian Blackwell, Oxford.
  4. ^ Ford E. B. 1980. Some recollections pertaining to the evolutionary synthesis. In Mayr E. and Provine W. B. (eds) The evolutionary synthesis: perspectives on the unification of biology. Harvard 1980; 2nd ed 1998, p336-8. [effectively, this is an intellectual autobiography]
  5. ^ Ford E. B. 1940. Polymorphism and taxonomy. In Huxley J. The new systematics. Oxford.
  6. ^ Dobzhansky T. 1951. Genetics and the Origin of Species. 3rd ed, Columbia University Press N. Y.
  7. ^ Ford E. B. 1942. Genetics for medical students. Methuen, London.
  8. ^ Ford E. B. 1949. Polymorphism. Biological Reviews 20, 73.
  9. ^ Chung C. S. and Morton N. E. 1961 Selection at the ABO locus. Am J Human Genetics 13, 9-27.
  10. ^ Ford E. B. 1964, 4th edn 1975. Ecological genetics. Chapman and Hall, London.
  11. ^ Ford E. B. 1945, 3rd ed 1977. Butterflies. New Naturalist #1 Collins, London.
  12. ^ Ford E. B. 1955, 3rd edn 1972. Moths. New Naturalist #30 HarperCollins, London.
  13. ^ Ford E. B. 1940. Polymorphism and taxonomy. In Huxley J. The new systematics. Oxford.
  14. ^ Huxley J. S. 1955. Morphism and evolution. Heredity 9, 1-52.
  15. ^ Ford E. B. 1964, 4th edn 1975. Ecological genetics. Chapman and Hall, London.
  16. ^ a b Majerus, M. E. N. (2004)The Peppered moth: decline of a Darwinian disciple. (. doc download)
  17. ^ Rudge, D. W. (2005). "Did Kettlewell Commit Fraud? Re-examining the Evidence. ", Public Understanding of Science 14 (3) (pp. 249–268).
  18. ^ Young, M. (2003). Moonshine: Why the Peppered Moth Remains an Icon of Evolution.

External links

  1. Papers co-written with R.A. Fisher are available on the University of Adelaide's website at The R.A. Fisher Digital Archive. Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher, FRS ( 17 February 1890 – 29 July 1962) was an English Statistician, Evolutionary The University of Adelaide (colloquially Adelaide University or Adelaide Uni) is a Public university located in Adelaide, South Australia Retrieved on 2007-09-09. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1000 - Battle of Svolder, Viking Age. 1379 - Treaty of Neuberg, splitting the Austrian
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