Erwin Baur (16 April 1875, in
Ichenheim,
Grand Duchy of Baden – 2 December 1933) was a German
geneticist
A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic processes ...
and
botanist. Baur worked primarily on plant
genetics
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...
. He was director of the
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Breeding Research (since 1938 Erwin Baur-Institute). Baur is considered to be the father of plant
virology
Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, th ...
. He discovered the inheritance of
plastids.
In 1908 Baur demonstrated a lethal gene in the ''Antirrhinum'' plant. In 1909 working on the
chloroplast genes in ''Pelargonium'' (geraniums) he showed that they violated four of
Mendel's five laws.
Baur stated that
#plastids are carriers of hereditary factors which are able to mutate.
#in variegated plants, random sorting out of plastids is taking place.
#the genetic results indicate a biparental inheritance of plastids by egg cells and sperm cells in pelargonium.
Since the 1930s and the work of
Otto Renner, plastid inheritance became a widely accepted genetic theory.
In 1921 and 1932, together with
Fritz Lenz Fritz Gottlieb Karl Lenz (9 March 1887 in Pflugrade, Pomerania – 6 July 1976 in Göttingen, Lower Saxony) was a German geneticist, member of the Nazi Party,[Eugen Fischer
Eugen Fischer (5 July 1874 – 9 July 1967) was a German professor of medicine, anthropology, and eugenics, and a member of the Nazi Party. He served as director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics, ...]
, Baur coauthored two volumes that became the book ''Menschliche Erblichkeitslehre'' (Human Heredity), which was a major influence on the racial theories of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
. The work served a chief inspiration for biological support in Hitler's ''
Mein Kampf''.
"Human biodiversity: genes, race, and history"
Jonathan M. Marks. Transaction Publishers, 1995. p. 88. , .
References
External links
Short Biography, bibliography, and links on digitized sources
in the Virtual Laboratory The online project Virtual Laboratory. Essays and Resources on the Experimentalization of Life, 1830-1930, located at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, is dedicated to research in the history of the experimentalization of life. T ...
of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (German: Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte) is a scientific research institute founded in March 1994. It is dedicated to addressing fundamental questions of the history of knowledg ...
1875 births
1933 deaths
People from Ortenaukreis
People from the Grand Duchy of Baden
20th-century German botanists
German geneticists
Max Planck Institute directors
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