William Lawrence Tower was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 zoölogist

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

, born at Halifax

Halifax, Massachusetts

Halifax is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 7,500 at the 2000 census.- History :Halifax was first settled by Europeans, most notably the Bosworth family from Bosworth Fields in England, in 1669, growing with lumbering and agriculture...

, Mass.

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

  He was educated at the Lawrence Scientific School (Harvard), the Harvard Graduate School, and the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

 (B. S.

Bachelor of Science

A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...

, 1902), where he taught thereafter, becoming associate professor in 1911. He did important experimental work in heredity

Heredity

Heredity is the passing of traits to offspring . This is the process by which an offspring cell or organism acquires or becomes predisposed to the characteristics of its parent cell or organism. Through heredity, variations exhibited by individuals can accumulate and cause some species to evolve...

, investigating especially the laws of heredity in beetle

Beetle

Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...

s and publishing An Investigation of Evolution in Chrysomelid Beetles of the Genus Leptinotarsa (1906). This study is probably the first (albeit possibly discredited) of mutation in animals
. He published also The Development of the Colors and Color Patterns of Coleoptera (1903) and, with Coulter

Stanley Coulter

Stanley Coulter was an American biologist, brother of J. M. Coulter, born at Ningpo, China, and educated at Hanover College. In 1887 he was appointed professor of biology at Purdue...

, Castle

William E. Castle

William Ernest Castle was an early American geneticist.-Early years:William Ernest Castle was born on a farm in Ohio and took an early interest in natural history...

, Davenport

Charles Davenport

Charles Benedict Davenport was a prominent American eugenicist and biologist. He was one of the leaders of the American eugenics movement, which was directly involved in the sterilization of around 60,000 "unfit" Americans and strongly influenced the Holocaust in Europe.- Biography :Davenport was...

and East, an essay on Heredity and Eugenics (1912).