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Rollins A. EmersonRollins Adams Emerson (1873 - 1947) was an American geneticist, he rediscovered the laws of inheretence established by Gregor Mendel using maize. Emerson was born on May 5, 1873 at Pillar Point in New York State, but at the age of 7 his family moved to Nebraska, where he attended public school and the University of Nebraska. He enrolled in the College of Agriculture there as while he was quite young he had developed an interest in the local flora and landscaping. He graduated in 1897 and began work for the Dept. of Agriculture as an editor, and soon after married Harriet Hardin and they had 4 children together. He accepted a position at the University of Nebraska, as an assistant lecturer. Professor Emersons' interests while he was in Nebraska included a wide range of projects including culture methods for different fruit and vegtables and the possibility of domesticating wild plants. He then, using bean breeding techniques set up an experiment to proof Mendels work, which Emerson had not heard of at the time, but he held similar opinions to Mendel. In Nebraska, he also became interested in using corn for his research, studying the heritability of pericarp variegation in calico corn. Ears on plants grown from variegated kernels show one pattern of striping but the pigmentation of the kernel varies, as does the red area. Emerson discovered that the more red there was in the kernels planted, the larger the amount of red ears in the progeny. In this way Emerson demonstrated Mendels Laws yet again, as the calico corn obeyed Mendels principles. He continued this work when he moved to Cornell University in 1914. Emerson became one of the first people to suggest that mutations could cause variations in organisims. Again he used the example of the variegated pericarp in calico maize. He became department head in 1917 in Cornell University, a position he held until his retirement. Emerson also enjoyed football, golf, walking and bowling, and became professor of plant breeding in 1942 at Cornell. In June 1947 Emerson went to Nebraska for thr 50th anniversary of his graduation. Later that year, he became ill and died on December 8, 1947. References Emerson, Rollins A. Emerson, Rollins A. Emerson, Rollins A.
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