Michael Pease
Encyclopedia
Michael Stewart Pease OBE (2 October 1890 – 27 July 1966) was a British
classical geneticist
at Cambridge University.
Pease was the son of Edward Reynolds Pease, writer and a founding member of the Fabian Society
, of the Pease family of Quakers. He married Helen Bowen Wedgwood, daughter of the Labour politician Josiah Wedgwood IV (later 1st Baron Wedgwood), of the Wedgwood
pottery family on 24 February 1920 at Chelsea Register Office. Their children include the physicist Bas Pease
and Jocelyn Richenda Gammell Pease (1925–2003), who married the Nobel-prize winning biologist Andrew Huxley
.
His research in chicken genetics included the development of an auto-sexing
breed of chickens where the gender was clearly distinguished by the chicken's plumage. He also served as a Labour councillor on the Cambridge County Council for Girton
. He was appointed to be an Ordinary Officers of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire
in 1966 for political and public services in Cambridgeshire.
He was interned at Ruhleben Prisoner of War Camp during the First World War and his father, a Major at the time, asked whether he could be exchanged for a German prisoner wishing to return to Berlin. While interned Pease tried to get gardens put into the camp and on April 27, 1916 gave a lecture on dancing in Elizabethan times.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
classical geneticist
Classical genetics
Classical genetics consists of the technique and methodologies of genetics that predate the advent of molecular biology. A key discovery of classical genetics in eukaryotes was genetic linkage...
at Cambridge University.
Pease was the son of Edward Reynolds Pease, writer and a founding member of the Fabian Society
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World...
, of the Pease family of Quakers. He married Helen Bowen Wedgwood, daughter of the Labour politician Josiah Wedgwood IV (later 1st Baron Wedgwood), of the Wedgwood
Wedgwood
Wedgwood, strictly speaking Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, is a pottery firm owned by KPS Capital Partners, a private equity company based in New York City, USA. Wedgwood was founded on May 1, 1759 by Josiah Wedgwood and in 1987 merged with Waterford Crystal to create Waterford Wedgwood, an...
pottery family on 24 February 1920 at Chelsea Register Office. Their children include the physicist Bas Pease
Bas Pease
Rendel Sebastian "Bas" Pease FRS was a British physicist.Pease's father was the geneticist Michael Pease, son of Edward Reynolds Pease. His mother was Helen Bowen Wedgwood, daughter of Josiah Wedgwood IV...
and Jocelyn Richenda Gammell Pease (1925–2003), who married the Nobel-prize winning biologist Andrew Huxley
Andrew Huxley
Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley, OM, FRS is an English physiologist and biophysicist, who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his experimental and mathematical work with Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin on the basis of nerve action potentials, the electrical impulses that enable the activity...
.
His research in chicken genetics included the development of an auto-sexing
Sex linkage
Sex linkage is the phenotypic expression of an allele related to the chromosomal sex of the individual. This mode of inheritance is in contrast to the inheritance of traits on autosomal chromosomes, where both sexes have the same probability of inheritance...
breed of chickens where the gender was clearly distinguished by the chicken's plumage. He also served as a Labour councillor on the Cambridge County Council for Girton
Girton, Cambridgeshire
Girton is a village of about 1,600 households, and 4,500 people in Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about two miles to the northwest of Cambridge, and is the home of Cambridge University's Girton College, a pioneer in women's education, which was moved there from a previous site in Hertfordshire in...
. He was appointed to be an Ordinary Officers of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in 1966 for political and public services in Cambridgeshire.
He was interned at Ruhleben Prisoner of War Camp during the First World War and his father, a Major at the time, asked whether he could be exchanged for a German prisoner wishing to return to Berlin. While interned Pease tried to get gardens put into the camp and on April 27, 1916 gave a lecture on dancing in Elizabethan times.