Heredity (the adjective is hereditary) is the transfer of characteristics from parent to offspring, either through their genes or through the social institution called inheritance (for example, a title of nobility is passed from individual to individual according to relevant customs and/or laws). Parenting comprises all the tasks involved in raising a child to an independent adult. ... In biology, offspring are the product of reproduction, a new organism produced by one or more parents. ... This stylistic schematic diagram shows a gene in relation to the double helix structure of DNA and to a chromosome (right). ... Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, and obligations upon the death of an individual. ... The Lords and Barons prove their Nobility by hanging their Banners and exposing their Coats-of-arms at the door of the Lodge of the Heralds. ... A convention is a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted rules, norms, standards or criteria, often taking the form of a custom. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Biology

In biology, heredity refers to the transfer of biological characteristics from a parent organism to offspring, and is practically a synonym for genetics, as genes are now recognized as the carriers of biological information. In humans, defining which characteristics of a final person are due to heredity and which are due to environmental influences is often controversial especially regarding complex traits such as intelligence and race. (See also the nature versus nurture debate.) Biology is the branch of science dealing with the study of life. ... Look up Synonym in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Genetics (from the Greek genno γεννώ= give birth) is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms. ... This stylistic schematic diagram shows a gene in relation to the double helix structure of DNA and to a chromosome (right). ... Intelligence is the mental capacity to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn. ... For other uses, see Race (disambiguation). ... Nature versus nurture is a shorthand expression for debates about the relative importance of an individuals innate qualities (nature) versus personal experiences (nurture) in determining or causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits. ...

History of heredity in biology

It was apparent to ancient humans that offspring resembled their parents. For example, Genesis 30-46 tells how Jacob and Laban split their sheep into white and speckled varieties so they could distinguish the two to ensure none were later stolen. Although it was clear that traits were hereditary, the precise mechanism of heredity was however not clear. Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin), also called The First Book of Moses, is the first book of Torah (five books of Moses), and is the first book of the Tanakh, part of the Hebrew Bible; it is also the first book of... It has been suggested that Yaqub be merged into this article or section. ... In the Book of Genesis, Laban (לָבָן White, Standard Hebrew Lavan, Tiberian Hebrew Lāḇān) is the brother of Rebekah and the father of Leah and Rachel. ...

Various hereditary mechanisms were envisaged without being properly tested or quantified. These included blending inheritance and the inheritance of acquired traits. Nevertheless, people were able to develop domestic breeds of animals as well as crops through artificial selection. The inheritance of acquired traits also formed a part of early Lamarckian ideas on evolution. In modern genetics, this refers to incomplete dominance. ... The theory of the inheritance of acquired traits was formulated by the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Lamarckism is a now discredited theory of biological evolution developed by French biologist Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck in the 19th century. ...

Charles Darwin proposed a theory of evolution in 1859 and one of its major problems was the lack of an underlying mechanism for heredity. Darwin believed in a mix of blending inheritance and the inheritance of acquired traits (pangenesis). Blending inheritance would lead to uniformity across populations in only a few generations and thus would remove variation from a population on which natural selection could act. This led to Darwin adopting some Lamarckian ideas in later editions of The Origin and his later biological works. Darwin's primary approach to heredity was to outline how it appeared to work (noticing that traits could be inherited which were not expressed explicitly in the parent at the time of reproduction, that certain traits could be sex-linked, etc.) rather than suggesting mechanisms. In his lifetime Charles Darwin gained international fame as an influential scientist examining controversial topics. ... 1859 (MDCCCLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ... Pangenesis was Charles Darwins hypothetical mechanism for heredity. ... The 1859 edition of On the Origin of Species First published in 1859, The Origin of Species (full title On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life) by British naturalist Charles Darwin is one of the pivotal...

Darwin's initial model of heredity was adopted by, and then heavily modified by, his cousin Francis Galton, who laid the framework for the biometric school of heredity. Galton rejected the aspects of Darwin's pangenesis model which relied on acquired traits. Francis Galton Sir Francis Galton F.R.S. (February 16, 1822 – January 17, 1911), half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an English Victorian polymath, anthropologist, eugenicist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto-geneticist, psychometrician, and statistician. ... At Disney World, biometric measurements are taken of the fingers of multi-day pass users to ensure that the pass is used by the same person from day to day. ...

The inheritance of acquired traits was shown to have little basis in the 1880s when August Weismann cut the tails off many generations of mice to find that their offspring did continue to develop tails. // Events and Trends Technology Development and commercial production of electric lighting Development and commercial production of gasoline-powered automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach First commercial production and sales of phonographs and phonograph recordings. ... August Friedrich Leopold Weismann (January 17, 1834 - November 5, 1914) was a German biologist. ... A Ring-tailed Lemur For other uses, see Tail (disambiguation). ... Feral mouse A mouse is a mammal that belongs to one of numerous species of small rodents in the genus Mus and various related genera of the family Muridæ (Old World Mice). ...

The idea of particulate inheritance of genes can be attributed to the Austrian monk Gregor Mendel who published his work on pea plants in 1865. However, his work was not widely known and was rediscovered in 1901. It was initially assumed the Mendelian inheritance only accounted for large (qualitative) differences, such as those seen by Mendel in his pea plants — and the idea of additive effect of (quantitative) genes was not realised until R.A. Fisher's (1918) paper on The Correlation Between Relatives on the Supposition of Mendelian Inheritance. For the subsequent history of genetics, see history of genetics. Gregor Johann Mendel Gregor Johann Mendel (July 20[1], 1822 – January 6, 1884) was an Augustinian abbot who is often called the father of genetics for his study of the inheritance of traits in pea plants. ... 1865 (MDCCCLXV) is a common year starting on Sunday. ... 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Sir Ronald Fisher Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher, FRS (17 February 1890 – 29 July 1962) was a British eugenicist, evolutionary biologist, geneticist and statistician. ... The Correlation Between Relatives on the Supposition of Mendelian Inheritance is a scientific paper by Ronald Fisher which was published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1918, (volume 52, pages 399—433). ... Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics The history of genetics is generally held to have started in 1865 when an Austrian monk, Gregor Mendel published his work on pea plants. ...

In the 1930s, work by Fisher and others resulted in a combination of Mendelian and biometric schools into the modern synthesis of evolution. The modern evolutionary synthesis (often referred to simply as the modern synthesis), neo-Darwinian synthesis or neo-Darwinism, brings together Charles Darwins theory of the evolution of species by natural selection with Gregor Mendels theory of genetics as the basis for biological inheritance. ...

Trofim Lysenko however caused a backlash of what is now called Lysenkoism in the Soviet Union when he emphasised Lamarckian ideas on the inheritance of acquired traits. This movement affected agricultural research and led to food shortages in the 1960s and seriously affected the USSR. Trofim Lysenko Trofim Denisovich Lysenko (Russian: Трофи́м Дени́сович Лысе́нко) (September 29, 1898–November 20, 1976) was a Soviet biologist who, during the 1930s, led a campaign of agricultural science, now known as Lysenkoism, which went explicitly against contemporary agricultural genetics and lasted until the mid-1960s in the USSR. // Biography Lysenko, the son... Lysenko speaking at the Kremlin in 1935. ... Lamarckism is a now discredited theory of biological evolution developed by French biologist Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck in the 19th century. ... The theory of the inheritance of acquired traits was formulated by the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ...

Sociology

The social institution called inheritance. One's bloodline is one's familial ancestry. See also meme. Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, and obligations upon the death of an individual. ... Kinship and descent is one of the major concepts of cultural anthropology. ... The term meme (IPA: ) labels a theoretical concept introduced in 1976 by Richard Dawkins, and refers to any unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice, idea or concept, which one mind transmits (verbally or by demonstration) to another mind. ...

External links

Look up Heredity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Heredity and Heritability