author
Reginald Crundall Punnett
1875–1967
Best remembered for the simple square that helped generations of students understand inheritance, this British geneticist also played a major part in establishing genetics as a modern scientific field. His work linked classroom biology with practical breeding experiments and early discoveries about how genes are inherited together.
2 Audiobooks
Mendelism Third Edition
by Reginald Crundall Punnett
Mimicry in Butterflies
by Reginald Crundall Punnett
About the author
Born in Tonbridge, Kent, on 20 June 1875, Reginald Crundall Punnett studied at the University of Cambridge and first worked in zoology before turning to genetics. He became one of the early champions of Mendel's ideas in Britain at a time when heredity was being rethought.
Punnett is most widely remembered as the creator of the Punnett square, a clear visual tool for predicting genetic combinations in offspring. Working with William Bateson, he also helped discover genetic linkage and co-founded the Journal of Genetics in 1910, helping shape a new field as it took form.
He later served at Cambridge as professor of genetics and carried out influential breeding research, especially with poultry. Born on 20 June 1875 and dying on 3 January 1967, he left behind both important scientific work and one of the most recognizable teaching tools in all of biology.