Sewall Wright
| Sewall Wright | |
|---|---|
Wright in 1954
|
|
| Born |
December 21, 1889 Melrose, Massachusetts |
| Died | March 3, 1988 (aged 98) Madison, Wisconsin |
| Fields | Genetics |
| Institutions |
University of Chicago (1926–1954) University of Wisconsin (1955–1960) |
| Alma mater |
Lombard College University of Illinois Harvard University (Sc.D., 1915) |
| Doctoral advisor | William Ernest Castle |
| Known for | population genetics |
| Notable awards | Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal (1945) National Medal of Science (1966) Darwin Medal (1980) Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal (1982) Balzan Prize (1984) Fellow of the Royal Society |
Sewall Green Wright (December 21, 1889 – March 3, 1988) was an American geneticist known for his influential work on evolutionary theory and also for his work on path analysis. He was a founder of population genetics alongside Ronald Fisher and J.B.S. Haldane, which was a major step in the development of the modern evolutionary synthesis combining genetics with evolution. He discovered the inbreeding coefficient and methods of computing it in pedigree animals. He extended this work to populations, computing the amount of inbreeding between members of populations as a result of random genetic drift, and along with Fisher he pioneered methods for computing the distribution of gene frequencies among populations as a result of the interaction of natural selection, mutation, migration and genetic drift. Wright also made major contributions to mammalian and biochemical genetics.
Sewall Wright was born in Melrose, Massachusetts to Philip Green Wright and Elizabeth Quincy Sewall Wright. His parents were first cousins, an interesting fact in light of Wright's later research on inbreeding. The family moved three years later after Philip accepted a teaching job at Lombard College, a Universalist college in Galesburg, Illinois.
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