Wilson, Edmund Beecher, 1856-1939, American zoologist, b. Geneva, Ill., grad. Yale (Ph.B., 1878), Johns Hopkins (Ph.D., 1881). He taught at Bryn Mawr (1885-91) and at Columbia (1891-1928), where he initiated research in genetics and attracted many followers. His principal work was on the function of the cell in heredity and on the role of the chromosomes (including the significance of the sex chromosome). He also studied embryology and experimental morphology. His works include The Cell in Development and Heredity (1896, 3d ed. 1925) and The Physical Basis of Life (1923).

(born Oct. 19, 1856, Geneva, Ill., U.S.—died March 3, 1939, New York, N.Y.) U.S. cell biologist. He joined the Columbia University faculty in 1891, where he became established as a pioneer in work on cell lineage (tracing the formation of different kinds of tissues from individual cells). His interests later extended to internal cellular organization and the problem of sex determination, leading to a series of papers (1905) on the role of chromosomes. Recognizing the importance of Gregor Mendel's findings, he realized that the role of chromosomes went far beyond the determination of sex and envisioned their function as important components in heredity as a whole, ideas that were a powerful force in shaping future genetic research.

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Edmund Beecher Wilson (October 19, 1856 – March 3, 1939) was a pioneering American zoologist and geneticist.

Wilson was born in Geneva, Illinois, and graduated from Yale in 1878. He earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins in 1881.

He was a lecturer at Williams College in 1883-84 and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1884-85. He served as professor of biology at Bryn Mawr College from 1885 to 1891.

He spent the balance of his career at Columbia University where he was successively adjunct professor of biology (1891-94), professor of invertebrate zoology (1894 - 1897), and professor of zoology (from 1897).

Wilson is credited as America's first cell biologist. In 1898 he used the similarity in embryos to describe phylogenetic relationships. By observing spiral cleavage in molluscs, flatworms and annelids he concluded that the same organs came from the same group of cells and concluded that all these organisms must have a common ancestor.

He also discovered the chromosomal XY sex-determination system in 1905—that males have XY and females XX sex chromosomes. Nettie Stevens independently made the same discovery the same year.

Professor Wilson published many papers on embryology, and served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1913.

Works

• An Introduction to General Biology (1887), with W. T. Sedgwick
• The Embryology of the Earthworm (1889)
• Amphioxus, and the Mosaic Theory of Development (1893)
• Atlas of Fertilization and Karyokinesis (1895)
• The Cell in Development and Inheritance (1896; second edition, 1915; third edition, 1925)

References

• Al-Awqati, Q. 2002. Edmund Beecher Wilson: America's First Cell Biologist Living Legacies, Columbia University.
• Gilbert, S. F. 2003. Edmund Beecher Wilson and Frank R. Lillie and the relationship between evolution and development, Developmental Biology, Seventh edition, Sinauer
• Kingsland, Sharon E (2007). "Maintaining continuity through a scientific revolution: a rereading of E. B. Wilson and T. H. Morgan on sex determination and Mendelism". Isis; an international review devoted to the history of science and its cultural influences 98 (3): 468–88.
• Dröscher, Ariane (2002). "Edmund B. Wilson's the cell and cell theory between 1896 and 1925". History and philosophy of the life sciences 24 (3-4): 357–89.
• Baxter, A L (1977). "E. B. Wilson's "destruction" of the germ-layer theory". Isis; an international review devoted to the history of science and its cultural influences 68 (243): 363–74.
• Baxter, A L (1976). "Edmund B. Wilson as a preformationist: some reasons for his acceptance of the chromosome theory". Journal of the history of biology 9 (1): 29–57.