biography
| name: |
Blakeslee, Albert (Francis)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1874–1954)
|
| biography:
| Botanist, born in Geneseo, New York, USA. After teaching in several American institutions and serving on collecting expeditions in Venezuela (1903) and Europe (1904–06), he became a professor at the Connecticut Agricultural College (1907–15). He joined the Carnegie Station for Experimental Evolution, Cold Spring Harbor, NY (1912–41, director 1936–41), moved to Columbia University (1940–52), and then Smith College (1942–54). He used the chemical colchicine to induce polyploidy (multiplication of the number of chromosomes) to produce extra-large flowers, thus enabling commercial production of seeds for giant blooms. He also investigated sexuality in the common bread mold and mutations in Jimson weed, and he studied the inheritance of taste and smell. |
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