Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics facts for kids
The Arthur Balfour Professorship of Genetics is a very important job at the University of Cambridge in England. It's a special teaching and research position focused on genetics. Genetics is the study of how living things inherit traits from their parents. This professorship started in 1912. It is believed to be the oldest job of its kind in the English-speaking world.
This special job was created thanks to a large gift of money. A person named Reginald Baliol Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher received £20,000 from someone who wanted to remain a secret. This secret donor wanted the money to create this new position. There was one important rule for the gift. The very first person chosen for the job had to be picked by two important leaders. These were the Prime Minister at the time, H. H. Asquith, and a former Prime Minister, Arthur Balfour.
Who are the Arthur Balfour Professors?
Here are the brilliant scientists who have held this important genetics job:
- Reginald Punnett (1912–1940)
- Ronald Fisher (1943–1957)
- John Marion Thoday (1959–1983)
- John Robert Stanley Fincham (1984–1991)
- Peter Neville Goodfellow (1992–1996)
- David Moore Glover (1999–2015)
- Anne Ferguson-Smith (2015– )
