Reginald Ruggles Gates (May 1, 1882 – August 12, 1962), was a Canadian-born geneticist who published widely in the fields of botany and

eugenics Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

Early life

Reginald Ruggles Gates was born on May 1, 1882, near

Middleton, Nova Scotia Middleton is a town in Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Situated on the north bank of the Annapolis River, it is located close to the centre of the Annapolis Valley, from which it gets its nickname, "The Heart of the Valley". History Where ...

, to a family of English ancestry. He had a twin sister named Charlotte. Gates graduated with first class honours in science from

Mount Allison University Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839. Like other liberal arts colleges in North America, Mount Allison does not parti ...

in 1903. Further studies toward a second B.Sc. from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

were interrupted by a year in which he returned to his childhood home in Middleton, Nova Scotia, where he served as vice-principal in a local school. He completed this second B.Sc. in 1905, focusing on botany, before accepting a Senior Fellowship at

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

where he completed his Ph.D. on heredity in

Oenothera lata ''Oenothera'' is a genus of about 145 species of herbaceous plant, herbaceous flowering plants native plant, native to the Americas. It is the type genus of the family (biology), family Onagraceae. Common names include evening primrose, suncu ...

(evening primrose) in 1908.

Career

Gates did botanical work in

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

in 1910. Later, he was a lecturer at

Bedford College, London file:Bedford College in York place - photographer is unknown but guess 1908.png, Bedford College was in York Place after 1874 Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for education of women, women in th ...

and Professor of Biology at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. He was known for his studies of

Oenothera ''Oenothera'' is a genus of about 145 species of herbaceous flowering plants native to the Americas. It is the type genus of the family Onagraceae. Common names include evening primrose, suncups, and sundrops. They are not closely related to ...

and other plants. Gates was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society 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 ...

in 1931. His nomination reads Additionally, Gates was a eugenicist. In 1923, he wrote ''Heredity and Eugenics''. He maintained his ideas on race and eugenics long after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, into the era when these were deemed anachronistic. He was a founder of ''

Mankind Quarterly ''Mankind Quarterly'' is a peer-reviewed journal that has been described as a "cornerstone of the scientific racism establishment", a "white supremacist journal", and "a pseudo-scholarly outlet for promoting racial inequality". It covers phys ...

'' and the

International Association for the Advancement of Ethnology and Eugenics The International Association for the Advancement of Ethnology and Eugenics (IAAEE) was an organisation that promoted eugenics and segregation, and the first publisher of ''Mankind Quarterly''. History IAAEE was founded in 1959 and has headquarte ...

, his articles abounded in the journal as ''Acta Geneticae Medicae et Gemellologiae''. He was a strong opponent of

interracial marriage Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different races or racialized ethnicities. In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United States, Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa as miscegenation. In 19 ...

and, according to A.S. Winston, "argued that races were separate species."

Personal life

In 1911, Gates married

Marie Stopes Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a British author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for eugenics and women's rights. She made significant contributions to plant palaeontology and coal classification, ...

, but the marriage was annulled in 1914, with Stopes claiming the marriage had not been consummated. Gates did not contest the divorce, although he disputed Stopes's claims, describing her as "super-sexed to a degree that was almost pathological" and adding to this "I could have satisfied the desires of any normal woman". Gates married Jennie Williams in 1929; the marriage was later dissolved. In 1955, he married Laura Greer.

Death and legacy

Gates died on August 12, 1962, and was buried in

Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regist ...

in Surrey, England. He is memorialized by the Ruggles Gates Award at

.The Ruggles Gates Chair In Biology
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Selected publications

*
Heredity and Eugenics
'. (1923). Constable & Co Limited. London, Sydney, Bombay. * ''Heredity in Man''. (1929). Constable & Company. * ''A botanist in the Amazon Valley''. (1927). H. F. & G. Witherby. * ''Human Genetics''. (1946). The Macmillan company (2 volumes). * ''Human Ancestry''. (1948). Harvard University Press. * "Racial elements in the aborigines of Queensland, Australia". (Jan. 1960). ''Zeitschrift für Morphologie und Anthropologie''. Bd. 50. H. 2. pp. 150–166.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gates, Reginald R 1882 births 1962 deaths Mount Allison University alumni Canadian eugenicists Fellows of the Royal Society McGill University alumni Academics of King's College London Burials at Brookwood Cemetery Canadian emigrants to England Canadian expatriates in the United States University of Chicago staff