William Bateson (1861 - 1926)

    Cambridge professor William Bateson described breeding experiments similar to those of Mendel in 1897, in which discrete characteristics of hybrid organisms passed through offspring generations intact. He is responsible for the terms "genetics" and "allelomorph", later shortened to "allele". [The term "gene" was first used by William Johannsen in 1909]. Unusually for Cambridge at this time, his research group included a number of women students.