William Bateson, Naturalist: His Essays and Addresses Together with a Short Account of His Life

William Bateson (1861–1926) began his academic career working on variation in animals in the light of evolutionary theory. He was inspired by the rediscovery of Gregor Mendel's work on plant hybridisation to pursue further experimental work in what he named 'genetics'. He realised that Mendel's results could help to solve difficult biological questions and controversies which others had glossed over, and to challenge assumptions underlying evolution as it was understood at the time. After t...