John Belling Explained

Birth Date:	7 October 1866
Birth Place:	Aldershot, Hampshire, England
Death Place:	Alameda, California
Fields:	Cytogenetics
Workplaces:	Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, UC Berkeley
Education:	Stonehouse Grammar School, King's College London, University College London, Mason College
Known For:	The iron-acetocarmine staining technique for studying chromosomes
Spouse:	Hannah Sewall

John Belling (7 October 1866 - 28 February 1933) was a cytogeneticist who developed the iron-acetocarmine staining technique which is used in the study of chromosomes.

Born in Aldershot in England in 1866, the son of John Belling (1827–1884) and Lydia Ann née Tart (1842–1915),^[1] he studied at Stonehouse Grammar School, King's College London and University College London, and then entered Mason College (which later became the University of Birmingham) where he received his BSc in 1894.^[2] He married Hannah Sewall in June 1919 in Forest Glen, Maryland, USA and received an honorary DSc in 1922 from the University of Maine in recognition of his work.

In his work with Albert F. Blakeslee at Cold Spring Harbor on Datura (1920–1927) and at the University of California, Berkeley (1928–1933) Belling used plants such as lilies and hyacinths to demonstrate that segments between non-homogeneous chromosomes can interchange.^{[3] [4]} He was able to make accurate estimates of chromosome numbers and proposed that chromomeres, the small condensations along the chromosome, were individual genes.

Throughout his career Belling had many mental health problems that required frequent hospitalisation. He died suddenly on 28 February 1933 in Alameda in California, USA.

Selected publications

• Book: Collected Reprints . Belling . John . 1912 .
• 10.1086/279843 . On Counting Chromosomes in Pollen-Mother Cells . 1921 . Belling . John . The American Naturalist . 55 . 641 . 573–574 .
• 10.1073/pnas.7.7.197 . The Behavior of Homologous Chromosomes in a Triploid Canna . 1921 . Belling . John . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 7 . 7 . 197–201 . free . 16586839 . 1084848 . 1921PNAS....7..197B . (See Canna.)
• 10.1086/279995 . The Distribution of Chromosomes in the Pollen-Grains of a Triploid Hyacinth . 1924 . Belling . John . The American Naturalist . 58 . 658 . 440–446 .
• Belling, J.. 1925. The origin of chromosomal mutations in Uvularia. Journal of Genetics. 15. 3. 245–266. (See Uvularia.)
• 10.2307/1536680. 1536680 . The Iron-Acetocarmine Method of Fixing and Staining Chromosomes . Belling . J. . Biological Bulletin . 1926 . 50 . 2 . 160–162 .
• Belling, J.. The ultimate chromomeres of Lilium and Aloe with regard to the numbers of genes. University of California Press. University of California Publications in Botany. 1928. 14. 11. 307–318.
• Contraction of chromosomes during maturation divisions in Lilium and other plants. Belling, J.. 1928. University of California Press. University of California Publications in Botany. 14. 14. 335–343.
• Book: The use of the microscope . 978-5-87122-495-3 . Belling . J. . 1930 . Рипол Классик . ^{[5] [6]}
  • Book: 978-0266559405 . The Use of the Microscope: A Handbook for Routine and Research Work (Classic Reprint) . Belling . John . 10 December 2018 . Forgotten Books Company, Limited .
• 1208410 . 1933 . Belling . J. . Crossing over and Gene Rearrangement in Flowering Plants . Genetics . 18 . 4 . 388–413 . 10.1093/genetics/18.4.388 . 17246698 .

References

• John Belling Collection

Notes and References

1. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/7619/HAMRG10_816_819-0386?pid=13382417&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D7619%26h%3D13382417%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3Ddjv1076%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=djv1076&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true 1871 England Census for John Belling - Hampshire, Aldershot, District General Staff and Departments
2. Book: General Register. 1 May 1901. University of London. 20 July 2014. 31 October 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131031162435/http://www.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/resources/gr.pt3-small-try2.pdf. dead.
3. 10.1073/pnas.12.1.7 . On the Attachment of Non-Homologous Chromosomes at the Reduction Division in Certain 25-Chromosome Daturas . 1926 . Belling . John . Blakeslee . A. F. . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 12 . 1 . 7–11 . free . 16576962 . 1084388 . 1926PNAS...12....7B .
4. 10.1073/pnas.13.10.717 . A Working Hypothesis for Segmental Interchange between Homologous Chromosomes . 1927 . Belling . John . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 13 . 10 . 717–718 . free . 16587261 . 1085200 . 1927PNAS...13..717B .
5. 10.1086/334098 . Use of the Microscope The Use of the Microscope. J. Belling . 1930 . Beal . J. M. . Botanical Gazette . 90 . 2 . 232 .
6. 10.1021/ed007p1725.2 . The Use of the Microscope (Belling, John) . 1930 . Mason . C. W. . Journal of Chemical Education . 7 . 7 . 1725 . 1930JChEd...7.1725M . p. 1726