Pontecorvo, Guido Pellegrino Arrigo, 1907-1999, geneticist and Professor of Genetics, University of Glasgow,

Guido Pellegrino Arrigo Pontecorvo(1907-1999), who liked to be known by his nickname, Ponte, was an Italian geneticist who became the University of Glasgow's first Professor of Genetics in 1955, and has been described as "one of the founding fathers of modern genetics". He endowed prizes and scholarships for students at the University and the Genetics Building was named for him in 1995. Born and educated in Pisa, Pontecorvo was forced to leave Italy in 1938 and settled in Scotland. He was appointed a lecturer in Genetics at the University's Zoology Department in 1945, and a new department was set up in the Anatomy laboratories of the Anderson College building soon afterwards. He became a Reader in 1952, three years before his appointment to the new Chair. He left Glasgow in 1968 to take a post at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund's laboratories in London. Pontecorvo was one of the leading figures of his day in the study of of cell genetics. For a more detailed biography see the full Pontecorvo collection description.

From the guide to the Papers of Guido Pellegrino Arrigo Pontecorvo, material relating to Pontecorvo's research trips abroad, 1962-1993, (Glasgow University Archive Services)

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