Haldane, J B S

Haldane, J(ohn) B(urdon) S(anderson)

J.B.S. Haldane

(credit: Bassano and Vandyk Studios)

(born Nov. 5, 1892, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Eng.—died Dec. 1, 1964, Bhubaneswar, India) British geneticist. Son of John Scott Haldane, he began studying science as his father's assistant at age eight and later received his M.A. from Oxford. Haldane, R. A. Fisher, and Sewall Wright, in separate mathematical arguments based on analyses of mutation rates, population size, patterns of reproduction, and other factors, related Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory and Gregor Mendel's concepts of heredity. Haldane also contributed to the theory of enzyme action and to studies in human physiology.