Charles Davenport

Eugenics ? Traits Studied Charles Davenport was the director of three institutions based at Cold Spring Harbor ? the ERO, the Biological Laboratory, and the Carnegie Institute of Washington?s Station for Experimental Evolution He noted in his 1909 Annual Report that the inability to conduct controlled experiments ruled out human genetics as a suitable topic for the Station for Experimental Evolution He and his wife published 4 papers between 1907 and 1910 that applied Mendelian principles to the human inheritance of eye color, hair color, hair texture and pigmentation The paper on skin pigmentation made the first reference to polygenic inheritance ? a trait influenced by two or more genes The eye color paper relied on data supplied by ?school principals and other friends?