George Wells Beadle. 23 October 1903-9 June 1989

Abstract

George Wells Beadle was born to Hattie Albro and Chauncey Elmer Beadle in Wahoo, Nebraska, on 22 October 1903. He died in Pomona, California, on 9 June 1989. Beadle was one of the giant figures of genetics in our time. He initiated the series of great discoveries made between 1941 and 1953 that brought to a close the era of classical genetics and launched the molecular age. For this achievement, he received many honours, including the Nobel Prize. Beadle also had a distinguished career as an academic administrator. When he retired in 1968, he was President of the University of Chicago. He never lost his love of experimental genetics, however, and after his retirement he resumed experimental work on a favourite subject: the origin of maize. In 1981, he gave up research because of increasing disability from the Alzheimer's disease that eventually ended his life.

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