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David Hilt Tennent (28 May 1873 – 14 January 1941) was an American biologist and professor at the
David Hilt Tennent (28 May 1873 – 14 January 1941) was an American biologist and professor at the Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...
. He was a specialist on cytology and embryology, particularly based on fertilization studies of echinoderms
An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the sea li ...
and made numerous studies on hybridization; and the control on expression of maternal and paternal genes.
Early life and education
Tennent was born inJanesville, Wisconsin
Janesville is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. It is the county seat and largest city in the county. It is a principal municipality of the Janesville, Wisconsin, Metropolitan Statistical Area and is included in the Madison–Jane ...
, to Thomas, a contractor of Irish ancestry, and his second wife Mary from Philadelphia. Tennent was the fourth child from the second marriage and grew up in a large family with several children from his father's first marriage. He sought to study medicine but the death of his father in 1893 following an accident forced him to work as a clerk in a pharmacy during spare-time. He taught himself and passed the Wisconsin State Examination in Pharmacy and in 1895 he was supported by an older sister to study at the Olivet College
Olivet College is a private Christian liberal arts college located in Olivet, Michigan. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It was founded in 1844 by missionaries from Oberlin College, and it followed Oberlin in becom ...
, Michigan. He graduated in 1900, training in the last years under Hubert Lyman Clark
Hubert Lyman Clark (January 9, 1870 – July 31, 1947) was an American zoologist. The son of Professor William Smith Clark, he was born at Amherst, Massachusetts, and educated at Amherst College and Johns Hopkins University.
From 1899 to 1905 h ...
who persuaded him to apply to Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland where he remained for most ...
. Receiving an assistantship, he studied under William Keith Brooks
William Keith Brooks (March 25, 1848 – November 12, 1908) was an American zoologist, born in Cleveland, Ohio, March 25, 1848. Brooks studied embryological development in invertebrates and founded a marine biological laboratory where he and ot ...
and Ethan Allen Andrews, and received a doctorate in 1904 with a dissertation titled "A study of the life-history of ''Bucephalus haimeanus'': a parasite of the oyster".Career
He taught briefly at Randolph Macon College. He worked at various marine research stations around the worldincluding Woods Hole, Torres Strait, and Tokyo. In 1923, he had deposited his notes in a bank vault and travelled to China but the notes were destroyed in an earthquake. He conducted experiments on inter-specific hybridization of echinoderms and observed the fate of male and female chromatin in crosses.Personal life
Tennent married Esther Margaret Maddux in 1909. They had a son who became a biochemist.References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennent, David Hilt 1873 births 1941 deaths American biologists Developmental biologists Johns Hopkins University alumni Bryn Mawr College faculty People from Janesville, Wisconsin