Curt Stern

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Curt Stern (August 30, 1902 - October 23, 1981) was a German-American geneticist. He made several important genetic discoveries, demonstrating chromosomal crossover in Drosophila weeks after Barbara McClintock and Harriet Creighton had done so in 1931. He demonstrated that there were multiple genes on the Drosophila Y chromosome and described the mechanism of dosage compensation. During World War II he led research for the American government on low dose radiation safety; his group concluded that there is no "safe" threshold below which radiation is not harmful. After the War his research focused on human genetics; he wrote the very successful pioneering US textbook Principles of Human Genetics, and studied what is now known as gene regulation. Though not a physician, he engaged in clinical work on human genetics. He was instrumental in re-founding human genetics on a non-racist basis contrasting with the pre-World War II German and American traditions in the subject. Curt Stern was also a signatory of the 1950 UNESCO statement The Race Question. He was a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, where he had numerous doctoral students.

[edit] Reference

• Burian, Richard M. 2000. Stern, Curt. American National Biography Online