| George Harrison Shull | |
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George Harrison Shull
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| Born | April 15, 1874 Clark Co., Ohio, |
| Died | September 28, 1954 Princeton, New Jersey |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | genetics |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago |
| Notable awards | Public Welfare Medal (1948) |
George Harrison Shull (April 15, 1874 - September 28, 1954) was an eminent American plant geneticist. He was born in Clark Co., Ohio, graduated from Antioch College in 1901 and from the University of Chicago (Ph.D.) in 1904, served as botanical expert to the Bureau of Plant Industry in 1903-04, and thenceforth was a botanical investigator of the Carnegie Institution at the Station for Experimental Evolution, Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y., giving special attention to the results of Luther Burbank's work.
Shull played an important role in the development of hybrid corn which had great impact upon global agriculture. As a geneticist he was working with corn plants and interested in pure breeds not for their economic value but for experiments in genetics. He produced corn breeds that bred true and then crossed therse strains. The hybrid offspring of the sickly purebreds were vigorous and predictable. In short, an ideal economic corn resulted from a project motivated purely to advance science.[1] For his work on corn, Shull was awarded the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences in 1948 .[2]
He also described heterosis in maize in 1908 and made a number of other key discoveries in emerging field of genetics. Shull was the founder of the scientific journal Genetics.
He was called George in distinction from his son Harrison Shull (1923-2003), also a distinguished scientist, specializing in the quantum mechanics of small-molecule electronic spectra.[1]
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Shull worked with Luther Burbank from 1906 to 1914 in an attempt to publish Burbank's plant work on the behalf of the Carnegie Institution. Ultimately unable to get Burbank's full cooperation, and finding in The Luther Burbank Press' 1914 "Luther Burbank: His Methods and Discoveries, Their Practical Application" "considerable sections are almost word for word the same as my (Shull's) manuscript," Shull's work was never published.[3]
Shull married Ella Amanda Hollar in July 1906. A daughter born May 8, 1907 did not survive its her birth. Ella died two weeks later.[4] Shull married Mary Julia Nicholl on August 26, 1909.[5] He and his second wife had six children (John Shull, Georgia Shull Vandersloot, Frederick Shull, David Shull, Barbara Shull Miller, and George Harrison Shull.) Only David is still living.
Shull died in Princeton on September 28, 1954. His cremains were buried in Santa Rosa, California [2] where his first wife was buried. His second wife's cremains were also buried there twelve years later.[6][7]
A reference to George H. Shull's discovery of the process of heterosis is in the movie "High Time" starring Bing Crosby about a wealthy man going back to college to get his Bachelor's degree. When quizzing with a younger fraternity brother, Crosby's character asks "Who discovered the process of heterosis?" to which the young student answers "George W. (pause), NO, George H. Shull"