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2 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS

door life. Very early he showed the strong interest in natural history
which distinguished him later, and he collected all sorts of things.
A minister once asked him which he liked better, books or bugs.
“Bugs,” said Bert, “for man made books but God made bugs!” He
early showed the originality and nonconformity that later were such
important elements in his character.

Blakeslee was fond of the water and was a skillful sailor of small
boats on Narragansett Bay. For one summer he worked as deck hand
on a private yacht.

His early education was at the East Greenwich Academy, where
his father was principal and his mother preceptress. From here he
entered Wesleyan University, where he was college tennis champion
(almost of national amateur caliber), received his letter in football,
made Phi Beta Kappa and won prizes in mathematics and chemis-
try. After graduating cum laude in 1896, he taught mathematics and
the sciences in Montpelier Seminary, Vermont, for two years and the
same subjects for another year in the East Greenwich Academy.

Teaching was very congenial to Blakeslee and he planned to con-
tinue as a preparatory school teacher. Feeling the need for more
training, however, he decided to go to Harvard for some graduate
work, particularly in botany and zoology. He took a master’s degree
there in 1900. During this year he came under the influence of two
great botanists, W. G. Farlow and Roland Thaxter. They suggested
that he try his hand at research in mycology, and Thaxter offered
him an assistantship. After attempting several difficult problems
without much success, he undertook the classification of the Mucors
and gathered a large collection of cultures of these fungi. In at-
tempting to get zygospores for taxonomic study, he observed that
they were found only under certain conditions, and this led him to
the discovery that to produce zygospores in most species it was neces-
sary to bring together two strains of opposite sexual type, (++) and

(—). Such heterothallism, with its suggestion that these simple
fungi reproduced by sexual fusion, was a completely new and sensa-
tional idea and has had an important influence through the years,

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ALBERT FRANCIS BLAKESLEE 3

both in mycology and genetics. Whether these differences should be
regarded as truly sexual in the strict sense may be debated, but
Blakeslee so regarded them. For this work he was awarded the
Bowdoin prize at Harvard. He received his Ph. D. degree in 1904.
This discovery of heterothallism and the publication of his thesis
established Blakeslee’s reputation as an original investigator. He had
found something—research—which was much more exciting than
schoolteaching, and to it he devoted himself with energy and en-
thusiasm for the rest of his life.

During his first year at Harvard he held a teaching fellowship in
botany and from rgoo0 to 1902 he served as instructor at Radcliffe.
For two summers he was assistant at the summer school at Cold
Spring Harbor, Long Island. He spent the summer of 1903 in Vene-
zuela collecting for the Cryptogamic Herbarium of Harvard.

The Carnegie Institution recognized his ability by a grant which
made it possible for him to spend two years abroad, working chiefly
in the laboratory of Professor Klebs at Halle. Here he carried on his
work with fungi and was able to prove that in some of the Mucors
sex determination was made in the zygospore, all spores from one
zygospore being either (+) or (—). In other forms, however, this
determination occurs later, so that both types are formed in the
sporangium coming from one zygospore.

During his first visit to Europe Blakeslee gained much more than
scientific knowledge. He learned to speak German and made the
most of his opportunities to meet European botanists and visit uni-
versities. For the first time he had a chance to acquaint himself with
the wealth of art that Europe had to offer, and it made a great im-
pression on him. His letters to his mother show how interested he
became in it and the many museums he visited. He gathered a
wealth of anecdotes and experiences, too, with which he later regaled
his friends, such as the story of his temporary arrest for dashing out
into the street and scraping up horse-droppings into a paper bag.
He had difficulty in persuading the police that he wanted this ma-
terial as a means for finding new fungi!
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4 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS

On his return to the United States, Blakeslee went back to Har-
vard for a year as instructor in botany. Positions were scarce and in
1907 he took the post of Professor of Botany and Director of the
Summer School at what then was little more than a farm school, the
Connecticut Agricultural College at Storrs (now the University of
Connecticut). He was the only Ph. D. on the faculty at that time,
but entered on the work with his usual enthusiasm, and spent there
eight pleasant and profitable years. He took an active part in the life
of the college and proved himself a remarkably fine teacher.

After going to Storrs he found it difficult to carry on his Mucor
work, and he also felt that his research should be more in harmony
with the nature of the institution. He therefore cast about for prob-
lems, but at first failed to find a suitable one. He often remarked that
for several years he was almost sterile scientifically. In his course for
forestry students, however, he developed keys for the identification
of trees in their winter condition, and in cooperation with the horti-
culturalist at the Experiment Station, C. D. Jarvis, he wrote in 1911 a
bulletin entitled “New England Trees in Winter,” fully illustrated
by photographs which the authors took at various places in New
England. The bulletin was later published (1913) as a book, Trees
in Winter, and became one of the best of its kind. Blakeslee lectured
rather widely on trees and aroused much interest in their study dur-
ing a time of year when they are without their distinctive foliage.
In connection with this work he did the first of his genetic experi-
ments with higher plants by making some crosses between a number
of tree species, one of them resulting in what was probably the first
hybrid pine produced in this country.

He continued to serve for several years as Director of the Summer
School, which was widely attended by schoolteachers and others. He
always had a party at the conclusion of the course, and one year
thought it would be appropriate, at an agricultural college, to serve
cider. In the summer, however, all he could find was some hard
cider. He masked its vigorous flavor by adding copious amounts of
sugar, and it was generously distributed and consumed. Nature was
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ALBERT FRANCIS BLAKESLEE 25
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1904
Zygospore Formation a Sexual Process. Science, n.s., 19 :864-66.
Sexual Reproduction in the Mucorinez” Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts Sci.,
40:205-310.
1905

Two Conidia-bearing Fungi, Cunninghamella and Thamnocephalis, n.
gen. Bot. Gaz., 40:161~70.

1906
Zygospore Germinations in the Mucorineae. Annal. Mycolog., 4:1-28.
Zygospores and Sexual Strains in the Common Bread Mould, Rhizopus
nigricans. Science, n.s., 24:118-22.
Differentiation of Sex in Thallus, Gametophyte, and Sporophyte. Bot.
Gaz., 42:161-78.
1907
Nature and Significance of Sexual Differentiation in Plants. Science, n.s.,
25 366-72. -
Heterothallism in Bread Mold, Rhizopus nigricans. Bot. Gaz. 43:415-18.

1908
Marchal’s Aposporie et Sexualité chez les Mousses. Science, n.s., 27:500-I.

A Method of Sending Pure Cultures of Fungi. Science, n.s., 27:960-6r.
Sexual Condition in Fegatella, Bot. Gaz., 46:384-85.

1999
Papers on Mucors. Bot. Gaz. 47:418-23.
1910

The Botanical Garden as a Field Museum of Agriculture. Science, ns.,

31 2685-88.

IgII

With C. D. Jarvis. New England Trees in Winter. Storrs Exp. Sta. Bull.,

69:307-576.
1913
A Labelling Surface for Laboratory Glassware. Science, ns. 37 1561-62.
Conjugation in the Heterogamic Genus Zygorhynchus. Mycol. Centralbl.,
2 :241-44.

 
eateries 0 MOEN aa cas ome le 6 aint Lt

i
4
|
‘ 20 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
A Possible Means of Identifying the Sex of (-++) and (—) races in the
3 Mucors. Science, n.s., 37:880-81.
With R. A. Gortner. On the Occurrence of a Toxin in Juice Expressed
j from the Bread Mould, RAizopus nigricans. Biol. Bull., 2:542-44:

With C. D. Jarvis. Trees in Winter. Their Study, Planting, Care and

Identification. New York, Macmillan. 446 pp-
Tree Study in Winter. Nature Study Review, 9:13-21.
Field Work on Trees. Nature Study Review, 9:121-25-

4
1914
With A. F. Schulze. A Possible Mutant in the Bellwort (Oakesia sessilt-

: folia) Which Prevents Seed Formation. Science, 155 39 :621-22.
With R. A. Gortner. Observations on the Toxin of Rhizopus nigricans.

Amer. Jour. Physiol., 34 2353-67.

 

ssa cng hala hea

teste

 

f A Possible Habit Mutant of the Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum). Tor-
; reya, 14:140-43-

i The Carnegie Foundation for Teachers—A Suggestion. Science, 15» 40:
i 482-83. ,

i Corn and Men. Jour. Hered., 5 511-18.

i 1915

. Linder’s Roll Tube Method of Separation Cultures. Phytopathology, 5:

68-70.

With D. E. Warner. Correlation between Egg
low Pigment in the Domestic Fowl. Science, 2s 41:432734-

With D. E. Warner. Correlation between Egg-laying Activity and Yel-
low Pigment in the Domestic Fowl. Amer. Nat. 49 :360-68.

Fancy Points vs. Utility. Jour. Hered., 6:175-81.

With R. A. Gortner. Reaction of Rabbits to Intra-venous Injections of
Mould Spores. Biochem. Bull., 4:45-5!-

Sexual Reactions between Hermaphroditic and
Bull., 29 :87-103.

Zygospores and Rhizopus for Cla

daying Activity and Yel-

Divecious Mucors. Biol.

ss Use. Science, ns. 42:768-70.

qtamnneyenes:encary mums Sata or aa
iE Na de as

1916

Variability Curve Following Law of Chance. Jour. Hered., 7:280.
Inheritable Variations in the Yellow Daisy (Rudbeckia hirta). Mem.

N. Y. Bot. Garden, 6:89.

fhe ae enna eam rena
ini aia ee hs

 

ws
ices in the
Expressed

2-44.
Care and

resia sessilt-
-22.
5 nigricans.

um): Tor-

ice, M1.S., 40:

athology, 5:
ity and Yel-

|.
ity and Yel-
3.

Injections of
Aucors. Biol.

3-70.

7:280.

urta). Mem.

ALBERT FRANCIS BLAKESLEE 27

1917

Corn and Education. Jour. Hered., 8:51-57.

With J. A. Harris and D. E. Warner. The Correlation between Body Pig-
mentation and Egg Production in the Domestic Fowl. Genetics, 2:36-77.

With J. A. Harris and D. E. Warner. Body Pigmentation and Egg Pro-
duction in the Fowl. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 3:237-41.

With B. T. Avery. Adzuki Beans and Jimson Weeds. Jour. Hered., 8:
125-31.

With J. A. Harris and D. E. Warner. Interperiodic Correlation in the Egg
Production of the Domestic Fowl. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 3:565-69.

1918

With J. A. Harris and D. E. Warner. The Correlation between Egg Pro- _

duction during Various Periods of the Year in the Domestic Fowl.
Genetics, 3:27-72.

With J. A. Harris, D. E. Warner, and W. F. Kirkpatrick. Pigmentation
and Other Criteria for the Selection of Laying Hens. Storrs Exp. Sta.
Bull, 92:93-194.

Unlike Reaction of Different Individuals to Fragrance in Verbena
Flowers. Science, n.s., 48:298-99.

1919
With B. T. Avery. Mutations in the Jimson Weed. Jour. Hered., 10:111~20.
A Unifoliate Mutation in the Adzuki Bean. Jour. Hered., 10:153~55.
Sexual Differentiation in the Bread Molds. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med., 16:
131,
With R. Thaxter and W. Trelease. William Gilson Farlow, December 17,
1844-June 3, 1919. Amer. Jour. Bot., 7:173-81.

1920
Sexuality in Mucors. Science, n.s. 51 :375-82; 403-0.
With John Belling and M. E. Farnham. Chromosomal Duplication and
Mendelian Phenomena in Datura mutants. Science, n.s., 52:388-go.
A Dwarf Mutation in Portulaca, Showing Vegetative Reversions. Ge-
Netics, 5 :419-33.
Mutations in Mucors. Jour. Hered., 11:278-84.

1921

A Graft-infectious Disease of Datura Resembling a Vegetative Mutation.
Jour. Genet, 11:17-37.
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28 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS

A Chemical Method of Distinguishing Genetic Types of Yellow Cones in
Rudbeckia. Zeitschr. Ind. Abst. Vererb., 25 :211-21.

The Globe Mutant in the Jimson Weed (Datura stramonium). Genetics,
6:241-64.

With J. A. Harris, W. F. Kirkpatrick, D. E. Warner, and L. E. Card.
The Egg Records of Limited Periods as Criteria for Predicting the Egg
Production of the White Leghorn Fowl. Genetics, 6:265-309.

Type of Mutations and Their Possible Significance in Evolution. Amer.
Nat., 55:254-67-

With D. S. Welch and J. L. Cartledge. Technique in Contrasting Mucors.

Bot. Gaz., 72:162~72.
With J. L. Cartledge and D. S. Welch. Sexual Dimorphism in Cunning-

hamella. Bot. Gaz., 72:185-219.
An Apparent Case of Non-Mendelian Inheritance in Datura Due to a

Disease. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 7:116-18.
The Globe, a Simple Trisomic Mutant in Datura. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci.

7:148-52.

With J. A. Harris and W. F. Kirkpatrick. The Prediction of Annual Egg
Production from Records of Limited Periods. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci,
7213-19. .

1922

With E. W. Sinnott. Structural Changes Associated with Factor Muta-
tions and with Chromosome Mutations in Datura. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci.,
8 :17-19.

Variations in Datura Due to Changes in Chromosome Number. Amer.
Nat., 56:16-31.

With J. T. Buchholz. Studies of the Pollen Tubes and Abortive Ovules

of the Globe Mutant of Datura. Science, 05. 55'597-99-
With J. Belling, M. E. Farnham, and A. D. Bergner. A Haploid Mutant
in the Jimson Weed, Datura stramonium. Science, n.s., 55:645-47-
With J. Belling. The Assortment of Chromosomes in Triploid Daturas.

Amer. Nat., 56:339-46.
With J. Belling and J. A. Harris. The Probability Established by a Cul-

ture of Given Size that a Mating is Capable of Producing only Domi-
nant Individuals. Amer. Nat. 56:458-61.

1923
Wariations in the Jimson Weed Caused by Differences in the Number of
Chromosomes. Eugenics, Genetics and the Family, 1:82-83.

M

A
Ww

W
D:

Ww

Bk
W

Ww
W.

W.
W

Vv
Ww

W
vy Cones in
. Genetics,

. E. Card.
ig the Egg
ion. Amer.
ng Mucors.
1 Cunning-
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Acad. Sci.,

innual Egg
Acad. Sci.,

ictor Muta-
. Acad. Sci.

vber. Amer.
tive Ovules
oid Mutant
46-47.

id Daturas.

d by a Cul-

only Domi-

Number of

.

ALBERT FRANCIS BLAKESLEE 29

With John Belling. The Reduction Division in Haploid, Diploid, Triploid
and Tetraploid Daturas. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., g:106-11.

With M. E. Farnham. Bottle Grafting. Jour. Hered., 14:171-73.

With John Belling and M. E. Farnham. Inheritance in Tetraploid Da-
turas. Bot. Gaz., 76:329-73.

With M. E. Farnham. Trisomic Inheritance in the Poinsettia Mutant of
Datura. Amer. Nat., 57:481-95.

1924

With J. Belling. The Distribution of Chromosomes in Tetraploid Daturas.
Amer. Nat, 58:60-70.

Distinction between Primary and Secondary Chromosomal Mutants in
Datura. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 10:109-16.

With J. Belling. The Configurations and Sizes of the Chromosomes in
the Trivalents of 25-chromosome Daturas. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 10:
116-20.

Bottle Grafting Again. Jour. Hered, 15:54.

With J. Belling. Chromosomal Chimeras in the Jimson Weed, Science,
n.s., 60 :1g-20.

With J. Belling. Chromosomal Mutations in the Jimson Weed, Datura
stramonium. Jour. Hered., 15:195-206.

1925
With S. Satina. Studies on Biochemical Differences Between (+) and
(—) Sexes in Mucors. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 11 :528-34.

1926

With J. Belling. On the Attachment of Non-homologous Chromosomes
at the Reduction Division in Certain 25-chromosome Daturas. Proc. Nat.
Acad, Sci., 12:7-11.

With S. Satina. Studies on Biochemical Differences Between (++) and
(—) Sexes in Mucors. 2. A Preliminary Report on the Manoilov Reac-
tion and Other Tests. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 12:191-96.

With S. Satina. Biochemical Differences between Sexes in Green Plants.
Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 12:197-202.

With S. Satina. The Mucor Parasite Parasitella in Relation to Sex. Proc.
Nat. Acad. Sci., 12:202-7. *

With J. L. Cartledge. Pollen Abortion in Chromosomal Types of Datura.
Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 12:315-23.
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30 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS

1927

With C. S. Gager. Chromosome and Gene Mutations in Datura Follow-
ing Exposure to Radium Rays. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 13:75-79-

The Chromosomal Constitution of Nubbin, a Compound (2n-+-1) Type
in Datura. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 13:79-85.

With S. Satina. Further Studies on Biochemical Differences between Sexes
in Plants. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 13:115-22.

With J. T. Buchholz. Abnormalities in Pollen-tube Growth in Datura
Due to the Gene “Tricarpel.” Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 13:242-49.

A Paradise for Plant Lovers. Sci. Monthly, 25 :5-18.

Nubbin, a Compound Chromosomal Type in Datura. Annals N. Y. Acad.
Sci. 30:1-29,

With G. Morrison and A. G. Avery. Mutations in a Haploid Datura.
Jour. Hered., 18:193-99.

With J. T. Buchholz. Pollen-tube Growth at Various Temperatures.
Amer. Jour. Bot. 14:358-69.

With J. T. Buchholz. Pollen-tube Behavior with Reference to Sterility in
Datura. Mem. Hort. Soc. N. Y., 3:245-60.

With J. L. Cartledge. Sterility of Pollen in Datura. Mem. Hort. Soc. N. Y.,
3.1305-12.

With J. L. Cartledge, D. S. Welch, and A. D. Bergner. Sexual Di-
morphism in Mucorales. r. Intraspecific Relations. Bot. Gaz., 84:27-50.

With J. L. Cartledge. Sexual Dimorphism in Mucorales. 2. Interspecific
Relations. Bot. Gaz., 84:51-57.

With J. Belling. The Assortment of Chromosomes in Haploid Daturas.
La Cellule, 37:355-65.

1928

With S. Satina. Studies of the Biochemical Differences Between Sexes in
Mucors. 4. Enzymes Which Act upon Carbohydrates and Their De-
rivatives. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 14:229~35.

With S. Satina. Studies on Biochemical Differences between Sexes in
Mucors. 5. Quantitative Determinations of Sugars in (++) and (—)

Races. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 14:308-316.
Genetics of Datura. Zeitschr. Ind. Abst. Vererb., Suppl., 1:117-30.

1929
An Attempt to Analyze the Composition of Nb, a Compound (2n-[1)
Chromosomal Type in Datura. Proc. Int. Cong. PI. Sci., 1:331-32.