History :
Auto sexing birds were ‘made’ because of three main people, namely William Bateson, (1861-1962), Professor Punnett (1875 – 1967) and Michael Pease. William Bateson was based in Cambridge; Professor Punnett joined William Bateson in 1904 and they worked together until 1910.
Professor Punnett gained his interest in biology through books that his father had which led to him gaining a first class degree in Natural Science, specializing in zoology. Professor Punnett followed the theories of an obscure monk, Johann Gregor Mendel (1822 – 1884) who was actually the founder of modern genetics
William Bateson left Cambridge for horticulture in 1909 but not before the team had tested the theory of various genetics on sex determination,
sex linkage, and autosomal linkage. When William Bateson left Cambridge, Professor Punnett became Head of Department.
Whilst the first World War was occurring Professor Punnett was busy proving the theory of sex linkage meaning that chicks could be sexed on hatch from the colour of their downs allowing the less useful boys to be dispatched and retaining the more useful girls for their egg laying ability. This was deemed to be of high importance during the war years for practical reasons and was of great use to the poultry industry at that time; in fact the majority of their work was funded by the government.
In 1922 Michael Pease joined the team in Cambridge and they went on to prove the Gold/Silver sex linked gene.
To be continued ...
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