Nils Herman Nilsson-Ehle (12 February 1873 – 29 December 1949) was a Swedish plant breeder and geneticist. He was a professor at Lund University and was also a proponent of eugenics.
Nilsson was born in Skurup and educated at the University of Lund and as a student he joined the 1898-99 Jonas Stadling expedition to Siberia. He then became a plant breeder at the Swedish plant breeding institute in Svalöv, which was established in 1886[1] under Hjalmar Nilsson, working there until 1915.[2] He attempted to induce mutations in seeds by sending them up high in the atmosphere in hot-air balloons in the hope that cosmic rays would alter their genes. He then became head of botany at the University of Lund followed by a position as professor of genetics at Akarp.[3] He noted polygenic trait inheritance.[4] He became interested in human genetic and helped found a State Institute of Race Biology in Uppsala in 1921 under Herman Lundborg which aimed to work on eugenics,[5] the improvement of the genetic quality of the people.[6] When Hitler came to power in German, both Lundborg and Nilsson-Ehle supported the idea of racial purity and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute founded in 1927 in Germany was modelled on the Swedish institution.[7]
References edit
- ^ Watson, D. J. (1949). "Svalöf 1886–1946". Nature. 164 (4167): 421. Bibcode:1949Natur.164..421W. doi:10.1038/164421a0. S2CID 37102958.
- ^ Åkerberg, Erik (2008-02-14). "Nilsson-Ehle and the development of plant breeding at Svalöf during the period 1900-1915". Hereditas. 105 (1): 1–5. doi:10.1111/j.1601-5223.1986.tb00633.x.
- ^ Bell, G. D. H. (1950). "Prof. N. Herman Nilsson-Ehle". Nature. 165 (4201): 709–710. Bibcode:1950Natur.165..709B. doi:10.1038/165709a0. PMID 15416795. S2CID 42221354.
- ^ Wright, Sewall (1914). "Duplicate Genes". The American Naturalist. 48 (574): 638–639. doi:10.1086/279436. ISSN 0003-0147. S2CID 222330771.
- ^ Lundborg, H. (2009-04-24). "The Swedish State-Institute of Race-biology". Acta Medica Scandinavica. 56 (1): 371–392. doi:10.1111/j.0954-6820.1922.tb18490.x.
- ^ Bengtsson, Bengt O. (2014). "Strange history: the fall of Rome explained in Hereditas". Hereditas. 151 (6): 132–139. doi:10.1111/hrd2.00080. PMID 25588300.
- ^ Björkman, Maria; Widmalm, Sven (2010-12-20). "Selling eugenics: the case of Sweden". Notes and Records of the Royal Society. 64 (4): 379–400. doi:10.1098/rsnr.2010.0009. ISSN 0035-9149. PMID 21553636. S2CID 16786101.