James F. Crow 3815307 223315481 2008-07-03T15:05:37Z Rjwilmsi 203434 gen + birth/death date fixes per [[Wikipedia:DATE#Dates_of_birth_and_death|MOS]] using [[Project:AutoWikiBrowser|AWB]] {{Wikify|date=December 2007}} '''James F. Crow''' (born 1916) is Professor Emeritus of [[Genetics]] at the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]]. Some of his most significant peer-reviewed contributions were coauthored with [[Motoo Kimura]]. His major contribution to the field, however, is arguably his teaching. He has written an influential introductory textbook on genetics and a more advanced one with Kimura, and the list of his graduate and undergraduate students and postdocs includes [[Alexey Kondrashov]], [[James Bull]], [[Joe Felsenstein]], [[Russell Lande]], [[Dan Hartl]], Takeo Maruyama, Terumi Mukai, Wen-Hsiung Li, Chung-I Wu and many others. ==Biography== James F. Crow is a pioneer and giant in the field of genetics. His University of Wisconsin genetics faculty profile reviews his historic contributions through research, teaching, public service, ethical analysis, and leadership. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, The American Philosophical Society, the World Academy of Art and Science, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and The American Philosophical Society. He was a long-time member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, playing viola. He is a past president of both the Genetics Society of America and the American Society of Human Genetics. He helped define the meaning of genetic counseling. ===Early life and education=== Crow was born in 1916 in [[Collegeville, Pennsylvania]], where his father was a teacher at [[Ursinus College]]. The family moved to [[Wichita, Kansas]], two and a half years later, in 1918, where Crow was part of the [[Spanish flu|1918 flu pandemic]]. He went to school in Wichita, then to [[Friends University]], at the time a [[Quaker]] school, also in Wichita, graduating in 1937. At school, he enjoyed physics and chemistry, but pursued chemistry more strongly at university. He picked up biology as well, and double majored in chemistry and biology. A genetics course in his junior year was his first exposure to that field, even though the syllabus omitted the [[modern synthesis]]. Delaying the decision of whether to become a biologist or chemist, Crow applied for graduate fellowships in both biology and biochemistry. He took up the first positive reply, a position with [[Hermann Joseph Muller|H. J. Muller]] at the [[University of Texas at Austin]], in spite of knowing that Muller was in Russia at the time. It turned out that Muller had no intention of returning to his position in Texas, and so J. T. Patterson became Crow's supervisor there. Under the influence of Muller, Patterson was starting to switch to ''[[Drosophila]]'' genetics, having previously worked on the embryology of the [[armadillo]], and so it was that Crow came to study the genetic isolating mechanisms in the ''Drosophila mulleri'' group. This included a combination of doing mating crosses between species and looking for [[chromosome rearrangement]]s using [[polytene chromosome]]s. (Polytene chromosomes are large aggregations of actual chromosomes which, once appropriately stained, facilitate the discovery of chromosome rearrangements through an ordinary [[light microscope]]. Polytene chromosomes are mostly found in the [[salivary gland]]s of some species.) In his studies of pre-mating isolation, Crow was one of the first to study genetic reinforcement, and also observed that [[sympatry|species occurring together]] were sexually isolated, while [[allopatry|those living apart]] were not. A great influence on Crow at the time was W.S. Stone, who encouraged him to learn more mathematics, while he himself knew none. Crow later admitted to struggling with some of the advanced maths and physics courses he took as a result, but also said they had been rewarding. ===Dartmouth College and the war=== Crow graduated with his PhD in 1941 and moved to [[Dartmouth College]] just prior to the war, where he remained until 1948. The original plan had been to get a postdoctoral fellowship to work with [[Sewall Wright]] at the [[University of Chicago]], but this proved difficult just at the start of the war. His appointment in Dartmouth was to teach genetics and general [[zoology]], but as faculty were drafted off into military endeavors, Crow took on an increasing number of courses. Crow particularly delighted in being able to teach [[embryology]] and [[comparative anatomy]]. When it seemed likely that he himself would be drafted, Crow took a course in navigation, at which, owing to his mathematical training, he proved so adept that he was asked to teach it. As [[parasitology]] became relevant to the war (as it did on the opposing front, where [[Willi Hennig]] was active in this area), he was asked to also teach parasitology and [[haematology]]. Not long after, he was also teaching [[statistics]]. It may be that, having to teach many hours each day, Crow discovered his love for teaching at this point. He later recounted that there were several students all of whose courses were taught by him. He, like many of his colleagues of the era, had college-time involvement with pacifist groups that had communist leanings. During WWII, he tried to enlist, but was deferred until the end due to his teaching commitments. Professor Crow is known among colleagues as Jim Crow. ==References== Interview with Professor James Crow. 2006. ''BioEssays'' '''28''' (6), 660-678. DOI 10.1002/bies.20426 http://www.genetics.wisc.edu/faculty/profile.php?id=102 {{DEFAULTSORT:Crow, James}} [[Category:American geneticists]] [[Category:Foreign Members of the Royal Society]] [[Category:1916 births]] [[Category:Living people]]