User:Hmptun/draft edith saunders

Edith Rebecca Saunders (1865 - 1945) was a British geneticist and plant anatomist. She had an active role in the re-discovery of Mendel's laws of heredity, being the first collaborator of the geneticist William Bateson. She also developed extensive work on plant anatomy, particularly focusing on the gynoecia, the female reproductive organs of flowers.

=Biography= Saunders was born in Brighton, UK in 1865. She was firstly educated at Handsworth Ladies' College and in 1884 she ingressed the then female-only Newnham College, in Cambridge. There, she attended both Part I (in 1887) and II (in 1888) of the Natural Sciences Tripos. She continued her post-graduate research, and served as a demonstrator at the Balfour Biological Laboratory for Women (where students from Newnham and Girton colleges received preparation for the Natural Sciences Tripos). In 1889 she became the director of the Laboratory. She was later director of studies at Girton College (1904-1914) and Newnham College (1918-1925).

She was appointed a fellow of the Royal Horticulture Society from which she received the Banksian Medal in 1906. In 1905 she was one of the first women being elected a fellow of the Linnean Society of London.

In 1920 she was the president of the botanical section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. She also served as president of the Genetical Society, between 1936 and 1938.

During World War II she served as a volunteer helping the Allied forces. She passed away soon after returning to Britain, in 1945, after suffering injuries in a bicycle accident.

=Research=

Saunders' earlier research focused on genetics. Many of her genetic experiments led to her and William Bateson defining important terms like "allelomorphs" (nowadays referred to as alleles), heterozygote and homozygote. Furthermore, together with Bateson and Reginald Punnett she co-discovered genetic linkage.

She also did extensive work in plant anatomy, particularly concerning gynoecia, having published several articles on the subject (noteworthy is her series of articles on "Illustrations of Carpel Polymorphism" published in the journal New Phytologist between 1928 and 1931).

=References=

=Notes= From nature:
 * She attended Handsworth Ladies’ College
 * She entered Newnham College, Cambridge, in 1884.
 * She took Part I and II of the Natural Sciences Tripos in 1887 and 1888.
 * continued into postgraduate research as a Bathurst student, 1888–1889,
 * served as a demonstrator in botany at the Balfour Biological Laboratory for Women,
 * becoming director in 1899.
 * held a College Research Fellowship, 1906–1909,
 * was the director of studies in natural science at Newnham College, 1918–1925,
 * and Girton College, 1904–1914.
 * was a fellow of the Royal Horticulture Society,
 * received the Banksian Medal in 1906,
 * was one of the first women to be elected as a fellow of the Linnean Society of London (1905).
 * served as president of the botanical section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1920
 * and of the Genetical Society from 1936 to 1938.
 * died in 1945 from injuries suffered in a bicycle accident.

From enciclopedia britanica:
 * Saunders attended Handsworth Ladies’ College, near Birmingham
 * from 1884 to 1888 was a student at Newnham College, a women’s school at Cambridge, where she studied natural sciences.
 * taught botany at Newnham, eventually becoming the school’s director of studies in natural sciences, a position she held until 1925.
 * Beginning in 1890, Saunders and fellow Newnham teacher Marion Greenwood codirected the Balfour Biological Laboratory for Women, which provided a research setting for female students and faculty from Newnham and nearby Girton College.
 * Saunders was devoted to educating women in the biological sciences, and in 1899, when Greenwood stepped down, Saunders became sole director of Balfour.

=Sources=

Primary

 * Illustrations of carpel polymorphism: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1930.tb06982.x/pdf
 * She used morphology also in a phylogenetic context: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1934.tb06804.x/pdf - also this reference has several of her own references
 * one of the first papers I found from her, on the genetics of hairyness in Biscutella http://rspl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/62/379-387/11.full.pdf
 * obituary: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v156/n3955/abs/156198a0.html
 * haldane obituary: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v156/n3961/abs/156385b0.html
 * COMMENTS ON "FLORAL ANATOMY AND ITS MORPHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION": http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1934.tb06804.x/pdf
 * COMMENTS ON THE THEORY OE THE SOLID CARPEL AND CARPEL POLYMORPHISM: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1926.tb06690.x/pdf
 * http://www.esp.org/foundations/genetics/classical/holdings/b/wb-04a.pdf
 * Bateson and Saunders 1902 http://www.esp.org/foundations/genetics/classical/holdings/b/wb-02b.pdf

Secondary

 * http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JBa9O75iqEcC&dq=A%20bibliography%20of%20plant%20genetics&hl=pt-PT&pg=PA16#v=onepage&q=saunders&f=false
 * http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1758746/Edith-Rebecca-Saunders
 * http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1095-8339.1977.tb01174.x/abstract
 * http://www.nature.com/nrg/journal/v8/n11/full/nrg2200.html
 * http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/discovery-and-types-of-genetic-linkage-500
 * http://www.researchgate.net/publication/11898781_Women_in_the_early_history_of_genetics._William_Bateson_and_the_Newnham_College_Mendelians_1900-1910/file/32bfe5124d485d242e.pdf
 * http://www.researchgate.net/publication/225545144_The_Domestication_of_Heredity_The_Familial_Organization_of_Geneticists_at_Cambridge_University_18951910/file/32bfe5124d5318c9f9.pdf
 * "In pursuit of the gene". In p 131 the author mentions that Edith Saunders was Bateson's first disciple (but he gives no reference to that...). However in the article "Women in early history of genetics" it confirms that Edith Saunders was Bateson's first collaborator, after havin the assistance of his sister Anna Bateson and his friend Dora Pertz.