The Search for Human Chromosomes

The author, Wilson Wall, has been a professional geneticist for more than 30 years, including postgraduate training as a clinical cytogeneticist. He has worked as team leader and section head as a clinical cytogeneticist in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. He carried out doctoral and postdoctoral research into areas of molecular genetics, specifically in evolution and forensic applications. For many years he was also secretary to the History Committee of the Institute of Biology.

Introduction.- Background to the Hunt for the Human Chromosome Number.- Microscopes and Stains: The Rise of Technology.- Mendel and Genetics.- Chromosomes as the Carriers of Heredity.- Difficulties of Chromosome Handling and Access to Material.- The Implications of DNA Structure.- Tissue Culture and the Cell Cycle: The Answer is Revealed.- The Flowering of Clinical Genetics.- Sex and Chromosomes.- What we Know, What we Don't and Where This may Lead us.- Appendix A: Rough Guide to Chromosome Structure.- Appendix B: People in the Text.- Glossary.