Edward Murray East | |
|---|---|
 Edward Murray East | |
| Born | October 4, 1879 Du Quoin, Illinois |
| Died | November 9, 1938 (aged 59) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois |
| Known for | Hybrid corn, eugenics |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Genetics, agronomy |
| Doctoral students | Rollins A. Emerson Edgar Anderson |
Edward Murray East (October 4, 1879 – November 9, 1938) was an American plant geneticist, botanist, agronomist and eugenicist.[1] He is known for his experiments that led to the development of hybrid corn and his support of 'forced' elimination of the 'unfit' based on eugenic findings. He worked at the Bussey Institute of Harvard University where he performed a key experiment showing the outcome of crosses between lines that differ in a quantitative trait.[2] He is also known as a critic of consumption and as a pioneer of thinking about environmental limits. While some scholars see his population thinking as nothing more than eugenics on a global scale, others see his population thinking as driven by environmental concerns, not eugenics.[3]
- ^ Nelson, O. E. (1993). "A notable triumvirate of maize geneticists". Genetics. 135 (4): 937–41. doi:10.1093/genetics/135.4.937. PMC 1205754. PMID 8307333.
- ^ East, E. M. (1916). "Studies on size inheritance in Nicotiana". Genetics. 1 (2): 164–176. doi:10.1093/genetics/1.2.164. PMC 1193657. PMID 17245854.
- ^ Thomas Robertson (2012). The Malthusian Moment: Global Population Growth and the Birth of American Environmentalism, Rutgers University Press, p 15, 19-23.