Sutton, Walter S.

Sutton, Walter S. (Stanborough) (1877–1916) geneticist, surgeon; born in Utica, N.Y. While he was a graduate student in Edmund B. Wilson's laboratory (Columbia University, 1901–03), he used grasshopper cells to prove that chromosomal behavior in meiosis is responsible for observed Mendelian phenomena. Although his achievements in cell research were and still are recognized as classic, Sutton pursued his goal of becoming a physician, received an M.D. from Columbia (1907), then practiced surgery in Kansas City, Kans., and Kansas City, Mo., until his death.