1910s Timeline - John Innes Centre

1939 The 7 th International
Congress of Genetics is
overshadowed by war
The Seventh International
Genetical Congress takes place
from 23 rd -30 th August 1939 in
Edinburgh. The Congress,
usually held every five years, is
two years late, the Russians
having abandoned their plan to
hold the Congress in Moscow in
1937. The suppression of
genetics in Russia has begun
and the Russians withdraw ten
days before the Congress.
Nikolai Vavilov was to have
been the President but his place
has to be filled by Francis Crew.
On Wednesday 23 rd August 600
geneticists from 55 countries
assemble in Edinburgh. By the
end of Thursday 24 th August
international events begin to
take over, the German
delegation are the first to leave,
followed by the Dutch,
Hungarian, Scandinavian and
Swiss. The Congress closes
prematurely on the 29 th of
August. At the Congress leading
British and American geneticists
consider a question set them by
the Washington-based Science
Service, an organization for
communicating science to the
public: ‘How could the world’s
population be improved most
effectively genetically?’ Their
response is published in Nature
on 16 September 1939. This
short statement, later dubbed
‘The Geneticists’ Manifesto’ is
often heralded as the moment
when geneticists, several of
them active in the eugenics
movement, spoke out to
challenge the scientific and
political assumptions of
eugenics. J B S Haldane and C D
Darlington are among the
signatories
1939 Britain declares war on
Germany
On September 1 st German
troops invade Poland. Adolf
Hitler does not respond to
Chamberlain’s ultimatum that
German troops be withdrawn
from Poland immediately. On
September 3 rd Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain announces
on the radio that Britain is at
war with Germany.
http://www.eyewitnesstohisto
ry.com/vocham.htm
On Britain’s war preparations in
1939, see:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peo
pleswar/timeline/
1939 Sir Daniel Hall retires
Daniel Hall retires on 30
September 1939. During his
thirteen years as Director the
teaching and research activities
of JIHI have extended. The
number of exhibitions offered to
student gardeners increased
from eight to twelve and the
total staff from 52 to 65. Hall’s
legacy includes affiliation with
the University of London, and
the biennial summer courses in
genetics and cytology which
bring the Institution into regular
contact with teaching and
research students. C D
Darlington once unkindly
described Hall as in the stage of
‘advanced comitteeosis’ when
he joined JIHI. However, Hall’s
personal connections with the
powerful organisations behind
agricultural and horticultural
research proved extremely
valuable to the Institution, both
in terms of grants and additional
land resources for the extension
of fruit trials. Hall’s stature
within Britain’s agricultural
research community can be
gauged by the book Agriculture
in the twentieth century: essays
on research, practice and
organization (1939), a series of
essays written in celebration of
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