Sewall Wright
Early Life and Education
Sewall Wright was born on December 21, 1889, in Melrose, Massachusetts, to Philip Green Wright and Elizabeth Quincy Sewall Wright. His father was a professor of economics and his mother was a school teacher. Wright was the third of three children.
Wright's interest in genetics began in high school, where he was introduced to the works of Mendel. He continued his education at Lombard College, where his father taught, and graduated in 1911 with a bachelor's degree in biology. He then pursued his master's degree at the University of Illinois and completed it in 1912.
In 1915, Wright earned his Ph.D. in zoology from Harvard University, where he was influenced by the works of Castle, a pioneer in the field of genetics.
Career
After completing his doctorate, Wright joined the USDA as a junior animal husbandman. He worked on the genetics of livestock and developed statistical methods to analyze the data he collected. His work led to the development of the inbreeding coefficient and the path coefficient.
In 1926, Wright left the USDA to join the University of Chicago as a professor of zoology. During his tenure at the university, he developed the concept of genetic drift, also known as the Sewall Wright effect. He also worked on the Hardy-Weinberg principle and introduced the concept of fitness landscapes.
In 1955, Wright retired from the University of Chicago and joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a professor of genetics. He continued his research on evolutionary genetics and published several papers on the subject.
Contributions to Genetics
Wright's contributions to the field of genetics are significant and varied. His work on inbreeding and path coefficients has been instrumental in understanding the genetic structure of populations. His concept of genetic drift has helped explain the randomness in genetic variation.
Wright's work on fitness landscapes has provided a visual representation of how populations evolve. His work on the Hardy-Weinberg principle has helped in understanding the genetic equilibrium in populations.
Legacy
Wright's work has had a profound impact on the field of genetics. His concepts and theories continue to be used in genetic research and have been instrumental in the development of evolutionary biology.
His work has also influenced other fields such as population genetics, quantitative genetics, and evolutionary biology. His contributions have earned him several awards and honors, including the National Medal of Science.