J.B.S. Haldane was an Indian scientist and geneticist born in the United Kingdom who made significant contributions to the fields of population genetics and evolution. He began assisting his father, renowned physiologist John Scott Haldane, at the age of eight. His college education was cut short due to his service in the British army during World War I. Following the war, he became a fellow of New College and later taught at Cambridge, California, and London universities. He subscribed to Marxism and became a member of the British Communist Party. Later in his career, he relocated to India and became the director of the Orissa government’s Genetics and Biometry Laboratory. Apart from his extensive biological and genetic research, he made significant contributions to the field of enzyme kinetics in biochemistry. He also discovered a cure for tetanus. He frequently conducted self-experiments in order to gather new data. His extraordinary intelligence and sharp memory enabled him to focus on two completely dissimilar subjects concurrently. Apart from technical works, he contributed numerous articles to newspapers and popular magazines worldwide. Among his major works are ‘Daedalus’ (1924), ‘The Causes of Evolution’ (1932), ‘Marxism and the Sciences’ (1938), and ‘The Biochemistry of Genetics’ (1939). (1954).
Childhood & Adolescence
J.B.S. Haldane was born in Oxford, England, on 5 November 1892. He came from an affluent, secular family of scholars. His father, John Scott Haldane, was a physiologist who conducted research on human respiration; his mother, Louisa Kathleen Trotter, was a social worker.
Naomi Mitchison, his younger sister, grew up to be a writer. He grew up in North Oxford. He began reading at the age of three and displayed an early aptitude for science. He began working with his father in their home laboratory at the age of eight.
He began his formal education at Oxford Preparatory School in 1897. Two years later, his family relocated to a Victorian mansion on the outskirts of Oxford, complete with a private laboratory.
He enrolled at Eton College in 1905, where senior students frequently misbehaved with him. Due to the failure of the college administration to contain this menace, he developed a strong dislike for the English educational system.
He later enrolled at Oxford’s New College and graduated with honors in 1914 with a degree in mathematics, classics, and philosophy. At the age of 20, he co-authored his first research paper with his father.
Career of J.B.S
His education was sporadic during World War I. As a second lieutenant in the Royal Highland Regiment, he served in the British Army. He was promoted to temporary lieutenant and later to temporary captain for his bravery. When he fought in France and Iraq, his life was constantly in jeopardy. He resigned from the military in 1920. This was made possible by his uncle, Lord Haldane, who was at the time the Minister for War.
In 1919, he was awarded a Fellowship in Physiology at Oxford University’s New College, where he conducted research in both physiology and genetics. In 1923, he moved to Cambridge University and accepted the Dunn readership in Biochemistry at Trinity College, where he taught until 1932.
He worked at Cambridge on enzymes and genetics, concentrating on the mathematical aspect of genetics. He was also the Head of Genetic Research at the John Innes Horticultural Institution from 1927 to 1937.
He was the Fullerian Professor of Physiology at the Royal Institution from 1930 to 1932. He was appointed Professor of Genetics at University College, London, in 1933. He became the first Weldon Professor of Biometry at University College, London, four years later, in 1937.
In 1956, he immigrated to India and was appointed Head of the biometry department at the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in Kolkata, a position he held until 1961. He eventually converted to Hinduism and obtained Indian citizenship. He cited the Suez Crisis as the reason for his departure from the UK.
He resigned in 1961 due to political differences with the then-Director of ISI, P. C. Mahalanobis. He then relocated to Bhubaneswar, Odisha, where he joined a newly established biometry unit. He authored 24 books, hundreds of popular articles, and 400 papers during his lifetime.
Significant Works of J.B.S
In 1915, he and his sister, Naomi Mitchison, established the genetic linkage in mammals. He conducted research on the chemical properties of hemoglobin, as well as various aspects of kidney function and excretion mechanism.
He applied Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory and Gregor Mendel’s genetics research to his own mathematics-based population growth research. He pioneered the concept of human duplication and coined the term ‘clone.’
In 1923, he predicted the depletion of coal for power generation in the United Kingdom and proposed the first network of hydrogen-generating windmills.
Among his seminal works are ‘Daedalus’ (1924), ‘Enzymes’ (1930), and ‘The Causes of Evolution’ (1932). (1932). Apart from technical publications, he also wrote for non-specialists about science. Several of his essays were collected in the anthology ‘Possible Worlds’ (1927).
Awards and Accomplishments
In 1932, Haldane was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1937, the French government bestowed upon him the Legion of Honor. In 1952, he was awarded the Royal Society’s Darwin Medal.
In 1956, he was awarded the Huxley Memorial Medal by the British Anthropological Institute. He was awarded the Feltrinelli Prize by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in 1961.
Personal History and Legacies
J.B.S. Haldane came from a distinguished family of scholars and public figures. His uncle, Viscount Haldane, was a distinguished scholar and member of the Prime Minister’s cabinet. His great uncle, Burdon Sanderson, was the university’s first Waynflete Professor of Physiology.
He was twice married. He married Charlotte Burghes, a journalist and writer, in 1926. The couple divorced in 1945 following their 1942 separation. He later married biologist Dr. Helen Spurway.
He was a socialist during World War I. In the 1930s, inspired by Lenin’s work, he converted to Marxism. In 1942, he became a member of the British Communist Party. Although he later left the party, he remained a staunch supporter of Marxism throughout his life.
He died of cancer in Bhubaneswar on 1 December 1964, at the age of 72. He wrote a witty poem titled ‘Cancer’s a Funny Thing’ while in the hospital, mocking the fatal disease. He donated his body to the Rangaraya Medical College in Kakinada for research purposes.
Trivia
J.B.S. Haldane frequently subjected himself to dangerous self-experiments in order to gather new data. For instance, he drank dilute hydrochloric acid and sealed himself in an airtight room containing 7% carbon dioxide to determine the effect of blood acidification. Several of his other self-experiments resulted in the crushing of his backbone and the puncture of his eardrums.
Estimated Net Worth
His net worth has been steadily increasing between 2020 and 2021. So, what is J.B.S. Haldane’s net worth at the age of 72? J.B.S. Haldane earns the majority of his money as a successful writer. He was born in 1892. His net worth is estimated to be between $1 million and $5 million.