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Theophilus Painter

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Theophilus Painter
Born
Theophilus Shickel Painter

(1889-08-22)August 22, 1889
DiedOctober 5, 1969(1969-10-05) (aged 80)
Known forSex-determination genes X and Y
AwardsNational Academy of Sciences, American Philosophical Society, Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal
Scientific career
FieldsZoology, genetics
InstitutionsUniversity of Texas

Theophilus Shickel Painter (August 22, 1889 – October 5, 1969) was an American zoologist best known for his work on the structure and function of chromosomes, especially the sex-determination genes X and Y in humans.[1][2] He was the first to discover that human sex was determined by an X/Y heteromorphic chromosomal pair mechanism.[3][4][5] He also carried out work in identifying genes in fruit flies (Drosophila).[6] His work exploited the giant polytene chromosomes in the salivary glands of Drosophila and other Dipteran larvae.[7] Painter was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1938 and the American Philosophical Society in 1939.[8][9]

Academic administration

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Painter joined the faculty at the University of Texas in 1916 and, except for military duty during World War I, stayed there his whole career. He was, in succession, associate professor, professor and distinguished professor of zoology. He served as acting president (1944–1946) and president (1946–1952) of the University of Texas and retired from active teaching in 1966.[10]

Racial segregation

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Painter was president of the University of Texas when Texas resident Heman Marion Sweatt applied for and was denied admission due to his race. Painter spoke out against integration, and voiced his disapproval of Sweatt's admittance. Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S.629 (1950), which proved an integral stepping stone in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas that held that "separate is inherently unequal" and led to the integration of America's public schools.

Gender research

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Painter is also known for his early study of human chromosomes. In a paper published in 1923, he first gave the number 24 for the count of human meiotic chromosomes.[11] He had tried to count the tangled mass of chromosomes he could see under a microscope in spermatocytes in slices of testicle and arrived at the figure of 24.[4] Others later repeated his experiment in other ways and agreed upon the number of 24. Popular thinking held that if there were 24 chromosomes in spermatocytes, there must be an equal number contributed by the female and the human chromosome number must be 48, which was undisputed for more than 30 years.[12] Then in 1955, Joe Hin Tjio and Albert Levan, using more advanced techniques, looked at the chromosomes in human somatic cells and found 46 chromosomes[13] and the human chromosome number was finally revised.

In 1934 Painter was awarded the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal from the National Academy of Sciences.[14]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Painter, Theophilus S. (1921). "The Y-Chromosome in Mammals". Science. 53 (1378): 503–504. Bibcode:1921Sci....53..503P. doi:10.1126/science.53.1378.503. PMID 17839040.
  2. ^ Entry on Painter by Dorothy Haskett in The Embryo Project Encyclopedia
  3. ^ Painter, Theophilus S. (1924). "The Sex Chromosomes of Man". Amer. Naturalist. 58 (659): 506–524. doi:10.1086/280002.
  4. ^ a b Ruddle, Frank H. (2004). "Theophilus painter: First steps toward an understanding of the human genome". Journal of Experimental Zoology. 301A (5): 375–377. Bibcode:2004JEZA..301..375R. doi:10.1002/jez.a.20072. PMID 15114644.
  5. ^ Glass, Bentley (1990) Theophilus Shickel Painter 1889—1969: A Biographical Memoir, National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC. Retrieved 24 Jan 2022.
  6. ^ Painter, Theophilus S. (1934). "A New Method for the Study of Chromosome Aberrations and the Plotting of Chromosome Maps in Drosophila Melanogaster". Genetics. 19 (3): 175–188. doi:10.1093/genetics/19.3.175. PMC 1208478. PMID 17246718.
  7. ^ Painter, Theophilus S. (1934). "The Morphology of the X Chromosome in Salivary Glands of Drosophila Melanogaster and a New Type of Chromosome Map for This Element". Genetics. 19 (5): 448–469. doi:10.1093/genetics/19.5.448. PMC 1208493. PMID 17246733.
  8. ^ "Theophilus Shickel Painter". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  9. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  10. ^ "Theophilus Shickel Painter". 11 January 2016.
  11. ^ Painter, Theophilus S. (1923). "Studies in mammalian spermatogenesis, II. The spermatogenesis of man". J. Exp. Zool. 37 (3): 291–338. Bibcode:1923JEZ....37..291P. doi:10.1002/jez.1400370303.
  12. ^ Matthews, Robert. "The bizarre case of the chromosome that never was" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  13. ^ Tjio, J.; Levan, A. (1956). "The chromosome number of man". Hereditas. 42 (1–2): 1–6. doi:10.1111/j.1601-5223.1956.tb03010.x.
  14. ^ "Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
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