This is a list of people who have made notable contributions to genetics. The growth and development of genetics represents the work of many people. This list of geneticists is therefore by no means complete. Contributors of great distinction to genetics are not yet on the list.
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A Aa–Al Dagfinn Aarskog (1928–2014), Norwegian pediatrician and geneticist, described Aarskog–Scott syndrome
John Abelson (born 1938), US biochemist, studies of machinery and mechanism of RNA splicing Susan L. Ackerman (21st century), US neurogeneticist, genes controlling brain development and neuron survival Jerry Adams (born 1940), US molecular biologist in Australia, hematopoietic genetics and cancer Bruce Alberts (born 1938), US biochemist, phage worker, studied DNA replication and cell division Lihadh Al-Gazali (born 1948), Iraqi geneticist, research on congenital disorders in the United Arab Emirates William Allan (1881–1943), US country doctor, pioneered human genetics C. David Allis (1951–2003), US biologist at the Rockefeller University who worked on chromatin Robin Allshire (born 1960), UK-based Irish molecular biologist/geneticist and expert in formation of heterochromatin and centromeres Cecil A. Alport (1880–1959), South African internist who identified Alport syndrome (hereditary nephritis and deafness) Carl-Henry Alström (1907–1993), Swedish psychiatrist, described genetic disease: Alström syndrome Frederick Alt (graduated 1971), American geneticist known for research on maintenance of genome stability in the cells of the mammalian immunological system Lee Altenberg, US theoretical population geneticist noted for work on the evolution of evolvability Russ Altman (Ph.D. 1981), US geneticist and bioengineer known for his work in pharmacogenomics Sidney Altman (1939–2022), Canadian-US biophysicist who won Nobel Prize for catalytic functions of RNA David Altshuler (born 1964), US endocrinologist and geneticist, the genetics of type 2 diabetes
Am–Ax Bruce Ames (1928–2024), US molecular geneticist, created Ames test to screen chemicals for mutagenicity D. Bernard Amos (1923–2003), UK-US immunologist who studied the genetics of individuality Edgar Anderson (1897–1969), US botanical geneticist who introduced the term introgressive hybridization E. G. ("Andy") Anderson (1924–1993), US Drosophila and maize geneticist William French Anderson (born 1936), US worker in gene therapy Corino Andrade (1906–2005), Portuguese neurologist and clinical geneticist Tim Anson (1901–1968), US molecular biologist, proposed protein folding a reversible two-state reaction Stylianos E. Antonarakis (born 1951), US-Greek medical geneticist, genotypic and phenotypic variation Werner Arber (born 1929), Swiss microbiologist, Nobel Prize for discovery of restriction endonucleases
Michael Ashburner (1942–2023), British Drosophila geneticist and polymath William Astbury (1898–1961), UK molecular biologist, X-ray crystallography of proteins and DNA Giuseppe Attardi (1923–2008), Italian-US molecular biologist, genetics of human mitochondrial function Charlotte Auerbach (1899–1994), German-born British pioneer in mutagenesis Oswald Avery (1877–1955), Canadian-born US co-discoverer that DNA is the genetic material Richard Axel (born 1946), US physician-scientist, Nobel Prize for genetic analysis of olfactory system
B Ba–Be Ernest Brown Babcock (1877–1954), US plant geneticist, pioneered genetic analysis of genus Crepis Édouard-Gérard Balbiani (1823–1899), French embryologist who found chromosome puffs now called Balbiani rings David Baltimore (1938–2025), US biologist, Nobel Prize for the discovery of reverse transcriptase Guido Barbujani (born 1955), Italian population geneticist and evolutionary biologist Cornelia Bargmann (born 1961), US molecular neurogeneticist studying the C. elegans brain David P. Bartel (B.A. 1982), US geneticist, discovered many microRNAs regulating gene expression William Bateson (1861–1926), British geneticist who coined the term "genetics" Erwin Baur (1875–1933), German geneticist, botanist, discovered inheritance of plasmids George Beadle (1903–1989), US Neurospora geneticist and Nobel Prize-winner Peter Emil Becker (1908–2000), German human geneticist, described Becker's muscular dystrophy Jon Beckwith (born 1935), US microbiologist and geneticist, isolated first gene from a bacterial chromosome David J. Begun (born 1965), American population geneticist Peter Beighton (1934–2023), UK/South Africa medical geneticist Julia Bell (1879–1979), English geneticist who documented inheritance of many diseases John Belling (1866–1933), English cytogeneticist who developed staining technique for chromosomes Baruj Benacerraf (1920–2011), Venezuelan-US immunologist who won Nobel Prize for human leukocyte antigen system Kurt Benirschke (1924–2018), German-US pathologist, comparative cytogenetics, twinning in armadillos Seymour Benzer (1921–2007), US molecular biologist and pioneer of neurogenetics Dorothea Bennett (1929–1990), US geneticist, Pioneer of developmental genetics Paul Berg (1926–2023), US biochemist and Nobel Prize-winner for basic research on nucleic acids John Desmond Bernal (1901–1971), Irish physicist and pioneer X-ray crystallographer
Bi–Bo James Birchler (PhD 1977), US Drosophila and maize geneticist and cytogeneticist. J. Michael Bishop (1936–2026), US microbial immunogeneticist, Nobel Prize-winner for oncogenes Elizabeth Blackburn (born 1948), Australian-US biologist, Lasker Award and Nobel Prize for telomeres and telomerase Frjeda Blanchard (1889–1977), American plant and animal geneticist Günter Blobel (1936–2018), German-US biologist, Nobel Prize for protein targeting (address tags on proteins) David Blow (1931–2004), British biophysicist who helped develop X-ray crystallography of proteins Baruch Blumberg (Barry Blumberg) (1925–2011), US physician and Nobel Prize-winner on hepatitis B Julia Bodmer (1934–2001), British geneticist, key figure in discovery and definition of the HLA system Walter Bodmer (born 1936), German-UK human population geneticist, immunogeneticist, cancer research James Bonner (1910–1996), US molecular biologist who studied histones, chromatin, nucleic acids David Botstein (1942–2026), Swiss-born US molecular geneticist, brother of Leon Botstein Theodor Boveri (1862–1915), German biologist and cytogeneticist
Herb Boyer (born 1936), US biotechnologist who created transgenic bacteria inserting human insulin gene into E. coli
Br–Bu Jean Brachet (1909–1998), Belgian biochemist, made key contributions to fathoming roles of RNA Roscoe Brady (1923–2016), US physician-scientist at NIH, studies of genetic neurological metabolic disorders Sydney Brenner (1927–2019), British molecular biologist and Nobel Prize-winner Calvin Bridges (1889–1938), US geneticist, non-disjunction proof that chromosomes contain genes R. A. Brink (1897–1984), Canadian-US plant geneticist and breeder, studied paramutation, transposons Roy Britten (1919–2012) US molecular and evolutionary biologist, discovered and studied junk DNA John Brookfield (born 1955), British Drosophila population geneticist Michael Stuart Brown (born 1941), US geneticist and Nobel Prize-winner on cholesterol metabolism Stephen Brown (born 1955), British geneticist at the MRC Harwell Manuel Buchwald (born 1940), Peruvian-born Canadian medical geneticist and molecular geneticist Linda Buck (born 1947), US biologist, Nobel Prize for post-doc work (with Axel) cloning olfactory receptors James Bull (20th–21st century), US molecular biologist and phage worker, evolution of sex determining mechanisms Luther Burbank (1849–1926), US botanist, horticulturist, pioneer in agricultural science Macfarlane Burnet (1899–1985), Australian biologist, Nobel Prize for immunological tolerance Cyril Burt (1883–1971), British educational psychologist, did debated mental and behavioral twin study
C Ca John Cairns FRS (1922–2018), UK physician-scientist, showed bacterial DNA one molecule with replicating fork Allan Campbell (1929–2018), US microbiologist and geneticist, pioneering work on phage lambda
Mario Capecchi (born 1937), Italian-born US molecular geneticist, co-invented the knockout mouse, Nobel Prize in Medicine, 2007 Elof Axel Carlson (1931–2025), US geneticist and eminent historian of science Rivka Carmi (born 1948), Israeli pediatrician, geneticist, President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Adelaide Carpenter (1944–2024), US geneticist known for her research on recombination nodule Hampton L. Carson (1914–2004), US population geneticist, studied cytogenetics and evolution of Drosophila Tom Caskey (1938–2022), US internist, human geneticist and entrepreneur; biochemical diseases Torbjörn Caspersson (1910–1997), Swedish cytogeneticist, revealed human chromosome banding William B. Castle (1897–1990), US hematologist, work on hereditary spherocytosis, sickle cell anemia William E. Castle (1867–1962), US geneticist, inspired T.H. Morgan, father of William B. Castle David Catcheside (1907–1994), UK plant geneticist, expert on genetic recombination, active in Australia Bruce Cattanach (1932–2020), UK mouse geneticist, X-inactivation and sex determination in mice Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (1922–2018), Italian population geneticist at Stanford University
Ce–Ch Thomas Cech (born 1947), US biochemist who won Nobel Prize for catalytic functions of RNA Aravinda Chakravarti (born 1954), Indian bioinformatician in the US studying genetic factors in common diseases Daniel Chamovitz (born 1963), American and Israeli plant geneticist who discovered the COP9 Signalosome (CSN) complex Jean-Pierre Changeux (born 1936), French molecular neurobiologist, studied allosteric proteins Erwin Chargaff (1905–2002), Austrian-born US biochemist, Chargaff's rules led to the double helix Brian Charlesworth (born 1945), British evolutionary biologist, husband of Deborah Charlesworth Deborah Charlesworth (born 1943), British evolutionary biologist, wife of Brian Charlesworth Martha Chase (1927–2003), US biologist, with Hersey proved genetic material is DNA, not protein Sergei Chetverikov (1880–1959), Russian population geneticist Barton Childs (1916–2010), US pediatrician, biochemical geneticist, philosopher of medical genetics George M. Church (born 1954), US molecular geneticist, did first direct genomic sequencing with Gilbert
Ci–Cu Aaron Ciechanover (born 1947), Israeli biologist, won Nobel Prize for ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation Bryan Clarke (1932–2014), British population geneticist, studied apostatic selection and molecular evolution Cyril Clarke (1907–2000), British medical geneticist, discovered how to prevent Rh disease in newborns Jens Clausen (1891–1969), Danish-US botanist, geneticist, and ecologist Stanley Cohen (1922–2020), US neurobiologist, Nobel Prize for cell growth factors Francis Collins (born 1950), US medical geneticist, gene cloner, director of Human Genome Institute James J. Collins (born 1965), US bioengineer, pioneered synthetic biology and systems biology Robert Corey (1897–1971), US biochemist, α-helix, β-sheet and atomic models for proteins
Carl Correns (1864–1933), German botanist and geneticist, one of the re-discoverers of Mendel in 1900
Harriet Creighton (1909–2004), US botanist who with McClintock first saw chromosomal crossover Francis Crick (1916–2004), English molecular biologist, neuroscientist, co-discoverer of the double helix James F. Crow (1916–2012), US population geneticist and renowned teacher of genetics Lucien Cuénot (1866–1951), French biologist, proved Mendel's rules apply to animals as well as plants A. Jamie Cuticchia (1966–2022), US geneticist who studied human genome informatics
D Da–De Mark Daly (born 1967), American geneticist who identified genes associated with Crohn's disease, inflammatory bowel disease, autism and schizophrenia David M. Danks (1931–2003), Australian pediatrician and medical geneticist, expert on Menkes disease