Editing Calvin Bridges

{{Short description|American scientist (1889–1938)}}
{{for|the musician|Calvin Bridges (musician)}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name              = Calvin Blackman Bridges
|image             = Calvin B. Bridges with his newly designed automobile.jpg
|caption           = Bridges with an automobile of his design, 1936
|birth_date        = {{birth-date|January 11, 1889|January 11, 1889}} 
|birth_place       = [[Schuyler Falls, New York]], US
|death_date        = {{death-date and age|December 27, 1938|January 11, 1889}} 
|death_place       = Los Angeles, California, US
|field             = [[Genetics]]
|work_institutions = 
|alma_mater        = [[Columbia University]] (B.S., Ph.D.)
|doctoral_advisor  = 
|doctoral_students = 
|known_for         = [[Heredity]], [[polytene chromosome]]
|influences        = 
|influenced        = 
|prizes            = 
|religion          = 
}}

'''Calvin Blackman Bridges''' (January 11, 1889 – December 27, 1938) was an American scientist known for his contributions to the field of [[genetics]]. Along with [[Alfred Sturtevant]] and [[H.J. Muller]], Bridges was part of [[Thomas Hunt Morgan]]'s famous "Fly Room" at [[Columbia University]].

==Early life==

Calvin Blackman Bridges was born in [[Schuyler Falls]], [[New York (state)|New York]] in 1889 to the parents of Leonard Bridges and Charlotte Blackman. Tragically, Calvin's mother died when he was two years old, and his father died a year later, leaving the young Calvin an orphan. Bridges was subsequently taken in and raised by his grandmother. It took Bridges several years to complete high school, graduating when he was 20 years old. Despite this setback, he moved on to be an outstanding student at [[Columbia University]] in [[New York City]], which he attended both undergraduate and postgraduate school.

While taking a [[zoology]] class at Columbia, Bridges met [[Thomas Hunt Morgan]]. This started a relationship which would eventually lead to many important scientific discoveries regarding genetics and [[evolution]]. 

==Work and research==

The "Fly Room" experiments began in 1910 and continued for seventeen years, with Thomas Hunt Morgan being the project's lead experimental developer.<ref name=CDSBbio>"Bridges, Calvin Blackman." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 2. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008. 455-457. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.</ref> Among many others working alongside Bridges and Morgan in the laboratory were [[Alfred Sturtevant]] and [[Hermann Joseph Muller]]. The "Fly Room" experiments were the first to use the common fruit fly ''[[Drosophila melanogaster]]'' for research in genetics, because they are cheap, easily accessible, and reproduce quickly.<ref name=Muhlrad>Muhlrad, Paul J. "Fruit Fly: Drosophila." Genetics. Ed. Richard Robinson. Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2003. 42-45. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.</ref> The experiments resulted in many important early discoveries in the field, resolved previously unclear issues such as the organization of genetic information within [[chromosome]]s, chromosomal arrangement, and [[genetic linkage|linkage]] in [[sex chromosome]]s, and contributed to the emergence of modern treatments of genetics and [[evolutionary biology]] from their classical foundations, all in an era before [[molecular biology]] had yet revealed the structure or nature of [[DNA]]. The group also contributed to the understanding of the impact of [[mutation]]s on evolution in general.<ref name=Muhlrad/> The success of the "Fly Room" experiments eventually made ''D. melanogaster'' a widely popular [[model organism]] for biological research of all types.

Bridges in particular was responsible for many improvements regarding the techniques and the equipment used in the experiments. He suggested the use binocular microscopes instead of hand lenses that had been using before, which improved data quality and convenience. Bridges also developed temperature controls for the experiments which proved to be more useful and yielded better results than the previous temperature controls.<ref name=CDSBbio/>

Bridges published many works, one of his most famous being "Sex in Relation to Chromosomes and Genes".<ref>"Bridges, Calvin Blackman." Britannica Biographies (2012): 1. Middle Search Plus. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.</ref> He also contributed many items to the ''Journal of Experimental Zoology'' and ''Science''. His work with [[sex-linked trait]]s suggested that chromosomes contained [[gene]]s; [[Nettie Maria Stevens]] was later able to support this hypothesis by examining the chromosomes of the fruit flies. Bridges wrote a couple of papers presenting the proof. He thanked her as "Miss Stevens" without stating what her contribution was nor referring to her Ph.D.{{citation needed|reason=important point for Bridges' reputation & general poor history of male scientists giving credit to female scientists|date=January 2016}}

Bridges' PhD thesis on "[[Non-disjunction]] as proof of the chromosome theory of heredity" appeared as the first paper in the first issue of the journal ''Genetics'' in 1916. In this paper, he also established that the [[Y chromosome]] does not determine gender in ''Drosophila''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ganetzky |first=Barry |last2=Hawley |first2=R. Scott |date=January 5, 2016 |title=The Centenary of GENETICS: Bridges to the Future |url=http://www.genetics.org/content/202/1/15 |journal=Genetics  |volume=202 |issue=1 |doi=10.1534/genetics.115.180182 |access-date=5 January 2016 |pages=15–23 |pmid=26733664 |pmc=4701082}}</ref> Bridges' best-known contribution among ''Drosophila'' researchers is his observation and documentation of the [[polytene chromosome]]s found in larval [[salivary gland]] cells.<ref>{{cite book |last=Morgan |first=T.H. |date=1940 |title=Biographical memoir of Calvin Blackman Bridges | url=http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/bridges-calvin-b.pdf}}</ref> The banding patterns of these chromosomes are still used as genetic landmarks even by contemporary researchers.{{citation needed|reason=documenting Bridges' work with polytene chromosomes|date=January 2016}} Bridges was elected to the [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1936 for his work with ''Drosophila''.<ref name=CDSBbio/>

After his death, Bridges' student [[Katherine Brehme Warren]] completed work on ''The Mutants of Drosophila melanogaster'' (1944), a classic book which was for two decades an indispensable resource for geneticists, with information from the "Red Book" later being transferred to the [[FlyBase]] database.<ref>Carlson, Elof Axel. "Calvin Bridges and the Development of Classical Genetics." Calvin Blackman Bridges, Unconventional Geneticist (1889-1938). Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Library and Archives, 2013. [http://library.cshl.edu/exhibits/bridges/_pages/page4_carlson.html Web.] 8 February 2015.</ref> Morgan and Sturtevant destroyed almost all of Bridges' notebooks after his death, except the four which were not in their possession.{{citation needed|reason=need to choose a reference; several options|date=January 2016}}

==Personal life==

Bridges married Gertrude Ives, with whom he had four children. He was known to be both brilliant and very kind and considerate,<ref name=CDSBbio/> though he was equally well-known for his womanizing and his struggles to keep up with family obligations.<ref>Genius on the Fly. Ewen Callaway, Nature 2014. {{doi|10.1038/516169a}}</ref> He was an atheist.<ref>H J Muller, 'Dr. Calvin B. Bridges', ''Nature'' 143, 191–192 (4 February 1939). {{doi|10.1038/143191a0}}</ref> In 1938, Bridges died from what is believed to have been a case of [[syphilis]].{{cn|date=March 2019}}

==References==

{{reflist}}

==Sources==

1. "Bridges, Calvin Blackman." ''Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography''. Vol. 2. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008. 455-457. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 26 January 2015.

2. Muhlrad, Paul J. "Fruit Fly: Drosophila." ''Genetics''. Ed. Richard Robinson. Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2003. 42-45. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 26 January 2015.

3. "Bridges, Calvin Blackman." ''Britannica Biographies'' (2012): 1. Middle Search Plus. Web. 26 January 2015.

4. Gambis , Alexis, director. The Fly Room . Imaginal Disc, 2014.

==Further reading==

*[[Garland E. Allen|Allen, Garland E.]] ''Thomas Hunt Morgan: the man and his science''. Princeton University Press 1978 
*E.A. Carlson, ''Mendel's Legacy: The Origin of Classical Genetics'', (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2004). {{ISBN|0-87969-675-3}}
*E.A. Carlson, ''The Gene: A Critical History'', (Iowa State Press, 1989). {{ISBN|0-8138-1406-5}}
*[[Robert E. Kohler|Kohler, Robert E.]] ''Lords of the fly: Drosophila genetics and the experimental life''. University of Chicago Press 1994.
*[[Alfred Sturtevant|A. H. Sturtevant]], ''A History of Genetics'', (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press,2001). {{ISBN|0-87969-607-9}}

==External links==
*[http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/bridges-calvin-b.pdf National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir]
*{{Gutenberg author | id=36979}}
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=Calvin Blackman Bridges}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridges, Calvin}}
[[Category:1889 births]]
[[Category:1938 deaths]]
[[Category:American atheists]]
[[Category:American geneticists]]
[[Category:Columbia University alumni]]
[[Category:History of genetics]]
[[Category:People from Schuyler Falls, New York]]
[[Category:Scientists from New York (state)]]