“The Forgotten Father of Epigenetics”
“The importance of cultural context in discovery is demonstrated by the contributions of Ernest Everett Just, an internationally recognized embryologist of the early 20th century who was African American. A graduate of Dartmouth College (1907) and the University of Chicago (PhD, 1916), Just was a professor at Howard University in Washington, DC…
His hypothesis, which he called the “theory of genetic restriction,” clashed with the gene theory that was then becoming dominant. I believe that Just’s theory — his model of the developing cell — represents a microcosm of his vision of the perfect society, which, in turn, was strongly influenced by sociological concepts circulating within the African American intellectual community at the time…
Whereas embryologists, including Just, believed that all components of the cell were important in inheritance and development, Morgan and the new geneticists believed that the nucleus played the dominant role and that genes controlled all events of the cell throughout the developmental process…
In Just’s view, the nucleus is more like a passive holding pen than the seat of power that the geneticists had imagined. The important players are the cytoplasmic agents, which, with help from genes, are free to go about their vital tasks of giving the various cell types their particular properties. Genes play a secondary role of absorbing this or that factor. We know now that Just was incorrect in denying a central role for genes. His theory was too cytoplasm-centered. But Morgan was not correct, either; his theory was too nucleocentric.”
