Earl Patterson
1923 - 1999
Established and developed the Maize Genetics Cooperation - Stock Center program at the University of Illinois as the successor and replacement for the earlier program initiated at Cornell University. The program at the University of Illinois began with seed samples of 220 stocks that were personally selected by Ernest G. Anderson and Marcus M. Rhoades from the Cornell collection, to serve as the nucleus of a continuing collection. These stocks were immediately supplemented with additional stocks solicited from dozens of geneticists in the maize research community. Through the years, additional stocks have been incorporated on a continuing basis as they have been developed and submitted.
During tenure as Director of the Maize Genetics Cooperation - Stock Center (1953 - 1966; 1986 - 1992), the collection became recognized world-wide as the comprehensive central source for maize genetic stocks.
Was involved along with Ed Coe, Gerry Neuffer and John Laughnan in establishing the annual Maize Genetics Meeting which began in 1959 at Allerton Park, IL. Organized and presided over these annual meetings from the first one until 1984, when the maize community grew to such a size that Allerton House could no longer accommodate them. Was responsible for the establishment of the original format for the Maize Meetings and successfully propagated the informal atmosphere that is still recognizable in our present day meetings, in spite of their size. The Allerton meeting served as a model for the later establishment of similar meetings by geneticists studying Drosophila, Neurospora, yeast, and other organisms.
Research interests included the analysis of male sterile mutants in maize.
Career History:
Born: Reynolds, Nebraska July 21, 1923.
Attended University of Nebraska 1940 - 1943; 1946 - 1947; B. Sc. in Technical Science, June 1947, with high distinction. Graduated first in class.
Served in U.S. Army 1943 - 1946 in European, American and Pacific theaters.
Received Ph.D. in Genetics, June 1952 from California Institute of Technology. Thesis title: 'Studies on crossing over in homozygous and heterozygous chromosome rearrangements in Zea mays'.
Post-doctoral appointment as Pioneer Fellow at Caltech, June, 1952 - April, 1953.
University of Illinois Faculty, 1953 - 1993.
Emeritus, 1993 - 1999.
Publications:
Patterson, E. B. 1952. The use of functional duplicate-deficient gametes in locating genes in maize. Genetics 37:612-613. (Abstr.).
Patterson, E. B. 1958. Genetic confirmation of chromosomes involved in reciprocal translocations. Maize Genet. Coop. News Letter 32:54-66.
Patterson, E. B., A. L. Hooker, K. M. S. Saxena and D. E. Yates. 1968. Linkage relations of Ht; mapping studies of RP3; mapping studies of RP4. Maize Genet. Coop. News Letter 42:44-51.
Patterson, E. B. 1968. Location of fl2. Maize Genetic. Coop. News Letter 42:42-44.
Phillips, R. L. , C. R. Burnham and E. B. Patterson. 1971. Advantages of interchanges that generate haplo-viable deficiency-duplications. Crop Sci. 11:525-528.
Patterson, E. B. 1973. Genic male sterility and hybrid maize production. Part 1, Proc. 7th Meeting of the Maize and Sorghum Section, European Assoc. Res. Plant Breeding [EUCARPIA] . Zagreb, Yugoslavia, Secretariat, Inst. for Breeding and Production of Field Crops (ed.).
Patterson, E. B. 1973. Procedures for the use of genic male sterility in production of commercial hybrid maize. U.S. Patent 3,710,511. U.S. Patent Office. (21 claims).
Patterson, E. B. 1975. Procedures for the use of genic male sterility in production of commercial hybrid maize. U.S. Patent 3,861,079. U.S. Patent Office. (8 claims).
Patterson, E. B. 1978. Properties and uses of duplicate-deficient chromosome complements in maize. In: Maize Breeding and Genetics, D. B. Walden (ed.). John Wiley, New York.
Patterson, E. B. 1982. The mapping of genes by the use of chromosome aberrations and multiple marker stocks. In: Maize for Biological Research, A Special Publication of the Plant Molecular Biology Association, pp. 85-88, William F. Sheridan, ed., University of North Dakota Press, Grand Forks.
Patterson, E. B. and J. R. Laughnan. 1990. The use of A-B translocations to identify chromosomal locations of dominant genes. Maize Genet. Coop. Newsletter 64:112-114.
Patterson, E. B. 1993. Translocations as genetic markers. In: The Maize Handbook. Michael Freeling and Virginia Walbot, eds. Springer-Verlag, New York.
Patterson, E.B. 1995. Tests of male sterile mutants of maize. Maize Genet. Coop. Newsletter 69: 126-128.
A report on the activities of the Maize Genetics Cooperation - Stock Center, together with a listing of stocks available upon request, appears each year in the Maize Genetics Cooperation News Letter, which is currently issued from the University of Missouri. More than a thousand copies of the News Letter are distributed each year to scientists and libraries throughout the world. These reports were authored by me during each of the years 1954 - 1966 and 1987 - 1992.
Professional and Public Service:
Served for 10 years as Illinois Technical Committee Representative to Regional Project NC-7 (New Crops).
Served a 3-year term as member of the Committee on Maintenance of Genetic Stocks, Crop Science Society of America.
Served two 3-year terms as member of the Committee on Maintenance of Genetic Stocks, Genetics Society of America.
Served as Chairman of the Maize Genetics Conference, for 26 years.
Served as a member of the Steering Committee and the Committee on Genetic Nomenclature, Maize Genetics Conference.
Served as Director of the Maize Genetics Cooperation - Stock Center, for 20 years.
Honors and Recognitions:
Received a citation of merit for service to maize genetics, presented in open session at the International Maize Symposium, held at the University of Illinois, September, 1975.
Received an expression of appreciation from the Maize Genetics Conference on the occasion of the 25th anniversary annual meeting, Allerton park, Illinois, March, 1982.
An issue of Maydica was dedicated to Earl Patterson on the occasion of his 70th birthday, for his service to the maize genetics community.
Laughnan, J.R., J. Day, S.J. Gabay-Laughnan, M.M. Sachs, and D.B. Walden. 1993. Earl B. Patterson - friend, colleague, scholar - a tribute. Maydica 38:79-83.