Leonard Doncaster (31 December 1877 – 28 May 1920) was an English

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 processe ...

and a lecturer on

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

at both

Birmingham University , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

and the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

whose research work was largely based on

insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

Early life

Doncaster was born on 31 December 1877 in

Abbeydale, Sheffield Abbeydale Cinema Abbeydale is an area in the City of Sheffield, England that follows the valley of the River Sheaf. It covers many districts of Sheffield in the south-west of the city running roughly from Heeley Bridge in the district of Heeley t ...

.His father was Samuel Doncaster, an iron merchant, of Abbeydale, Sheffield, Yorkshire.

Career

After education at

Leighton Park School Leighton Park School is a co-educational Independent school (United Kingdom), independent school for both day and boarding pupils in Reading, Berkshire, Reading in South East England. The school's ethos is closely tied to the Quaker values, havin ...

in Reading South England he studied at

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

, from 1896 onward. He was Scholar of natural sciences in 1898, and Walsingham Medallist in 1902. In June 1902 he was appointed assistant to the Superintendent of the

Cambridge University Museum of Zoology The University Museum of Zoology is a museum of the University of Cambridge and part of the research community of the Department of Zoology. The public is welcome and admission is free (2018). The Museum of Zoology is in the David Attenborough ...

, From 1906-10 he was a Lecturer in Zoology at Birmingham University. He was an early

Mendelian Mendelian inheritance (also known as Mendelism) is a type of biology, biological Heredity, inheritance following the principles originally proposed by Gregor Mendel in 1865 and 1866, re-discovered in 1900 by Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns, an ...

who discovered

sex linkage Sex linked describes the sex-specific patterns of inheritance and presentation when a gene mutation (allele) is present on a sex chromosome (allosome) rather than a non-sex chromosome (autosome). In humans, these are termed X-linked recessive, ...

, while writing up breeding experiment results of the Reverend G.H. Raynor on the magpie moth ''

Abraxas grossulariata ''Abraxas grossulariata'' is a moth of the family Geometridae, native to the Palearctic realm and North America. Its distinctive speckled coloration has given it a common name of magpie moth. The caterpillar is similarly coloured to the adult, ...

'' published in 1906. He wrote a number of books on Mendelian

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 ...

and on sex determination. His book ''Heredity in the Light of Recent Research'' (1910), is notable for explicitly dismissing Lamarckian inheritance. In 1909 he returned to

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and acted as Superintendent of the Museum of Zoology from 1909 to 1914. He became University Lecturer in Zoology in 1914 and won the Trail Medal of Linneaean Society in 1915. In 1915, he was also elected to the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. During the First World War he served as a bacteriologist to the First Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge, and later in the

Friends' Ambulance Unit The Friends' Ambulance Unit (FAU) was a volunteer ambulance service, founded by individual members of the British Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), in line with their Peace Testimony. The FAU operated from 1914–1919, 1939–1946 and 1946 ...

at Dunkirk, as he was a Quaker.Dictionary of Quaker Biography, Library of Society of Friends After WWI he was Professor of Zoology at Liverpool University from 1919 until his death in 1920. He died at age 42 of sarcoma in Liverpool.

William Bateson William Bateson (8 August 1861 – 8 February 1926) was an English biologist who was the first person to use the term genetics to describe the study of heredity, and the chief populariser of the ideas of Gregor Mendel following their rediscove ...

wrote his obituary in ''Nature''.

Publications

''Heredity in the Light of Recent Research''
(1910)
A review of ''Heredity and Memory''
by

James Ward James Ward may refer to: Military *James Ward (Medal of Honor, 1864) (1833–?), American Civil War sailor * James Ward (Medal of Honor, 1890) (1854–1901), American Indian Wars soldier *James Allen Ward (1919–1941), New Zealand pilot and Vi ...

(1912)
''The Determination of Sex''
(1914)
''Some Scientific Difficulties in the Way of Religious Belief''
(1916)
''An Introduction to the Study of Cytology''
(1920)

References

Some publications

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Doncaster, Leonard 1877 births 1920 deaths People educated at Leighton Park School Alumni of King's College, Cambridge British evolutionary biologists British geneticists British entomologists Critics of Lamarckism Fellows of the Royal Society

Early life

Career

Publications

See also

References

Some publications