This section of the website looks at the different history areas of the Department. Below, you will find a list of interesting facts as well as in-depth pages on the history of our Department.
- We are the oldest Genetics Department in the world - Established in 1912 with Reginald Punnet as the first Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics.
- The first location for the Department was the Professor's house - Whittingehame Lodge, on Storey's Way (pictured above) which is now part of Churchill College
- The Department moved to it present location (formerly the School of Agriculture) in 1976
- The first Part II class started in 1951
- The Genetics Society (Est 1919 by Edith Saunders, William Bateson) is the oldest in the world. 6 Genetics Society Presidents (out of 34) have come from the Department (Punnet, Fisher, Thoday, Fincham, Ashburner, Ferguson-Smith and also Edith Saunders) - more than any other institution
- Embryonic Stem Cells first produced in the Department by Martin Evans, Liz Robertson and Alan Bradly, along with collaborator Matthew Kaufman. Martin Evans was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology & Medicine
- The department has been home to some incredible developments in data-driven bioscience - FlyBase, The Gene Ontology and the formation of the EBI
- Professor Ferguson-Smith instituted the Becky Saunders lecture programme in 2018
Genetics Centenary, 1912 - 2012
The Balfour Chair of Genetics was established in Cambridge in 1912.
Celebration of Edith Rebecca Saunders
Becky Saunders made major contributions to the understanding of genetics and heredity at the beginning of the 20th century. Becky Saunders studied and worked at Newnham College and was Director of Studies in natural science at Newnham College between 1918 and 1925.
Professor Michael Ashburner, 1942 - 2023
Michael Ashburner was one of the Genetics Department’s most eminent scientists and a Fellow of Churchill College - he was at the heart of the Genetics Department for almost 50 years.