Gustave Malécot
Encyclopedia
Gustave Malécot was a French
mathematician
whose work on heredity
had a strong influence on population genetics
.
, a small village near St. Étienne in the Loire
département, the son of a mine engineer.
In 1935, Malécot obtained a degree in mathematics
from the École Normale Supérieure
, Paris
. He then went on to do a PhD under George Darmois and completed that in 1939. His work focused on R.A. Fisher
's 1918 article The Correlation Between Relatives on the Supposition of Mendelian Inheritance
.
Between 1940 and 1942, with France under Nazi German occupation, Malécot taught mathematics at the Lyceé de Saint-Étienne. In 1942 he was appointed maître de conférence (lecturer) Université de Montpellier. In 1945 he joined the Université de Lyon, becoming professor of applied mathematics
in 1946, a position he held until his retirement in 1981.
Malécot's Coancestry Coefficent
, a measure of genetic similarity, still bears his name.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
whose work on heredity
Heredity
Heredity is the passing of traits to offspring . This is the process by which an offspring cell or organism acquires or becomes predisposed to the characteristics of its parent cell or organism. Through heredity, variations exhibited by individuals can accumulate and cause some species to evolve...
had a strong influence on population genetics
Population genetics
Population genetics is the study of allele frequency distribution and change under the influence of the four main evolutionary processes: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and gene flow. It also takes into account the factors of recombination, population subdivision and population...
.
Biography
Malécot grew up in L'HormeL'Horme
L'Horme is a commune in the Loire department in central France....
, a small village near St. Étienne in the Loire
Loire
Loire is an administrative department in the east-central part of France occupying the River Loire's upper reaches.-History:Loire was created in 1793 when after just 3½ years the young Rhône-et-Loire department was split into two. This was a response to counter-Revolutionary activities in Lyon...
département, the son of a mine engineer.
In 1935, Malécot obtained a degree in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
from the École Normale Supérieure
École Normale Supérieure
The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. He then went on to do a PhD under George Darmois and completed that in 1939. His work focused on R.A. Fisher
Ronald Fisher
Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher FRS was an English statistician, evolutionary biologist, eugenicist and geneticist. Among other things, Fisher is well known for his contributions to statistics by creating Fisher's exact test and Fisher's equation...
's 1918 article The Correlation Between Relatives on the Supposition of Mendelian Inheritance
The Correlation Between Relatives on the Supposition of Mendelian Inheritance
The Correlation Between Relatives on the Supposition of Mendelian Inheritance is a scientific paper by R.A. Fisher which was published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1918,...
.
Between 1940 and 1942, with France under Nazi German occupation, Malécot taught mathematics at the Lyceé de Saint-Étienne. In 1942 he was appointed maître de conférence (lecturer) Université de Montpellier. In 1945 he joined the Université de Lyon, becoming professor of applied mathematics
Applied mathematics
Applied mathematics is a branch of mathematics that concerns itself with mathematical methods that are typically used in science, engineering, business, and industry. Thus, "applied mathematics" is a mathematical science with specialized knowledge...
in 1946, a position he held until his retirement in 1981.
Malécot's Coancestry Coefficent
Malecot's method of coancestry
Malecot's coancestry coefficient, f , refers to an indirect measure of genetic similarity of two individuals which was initially devised by the French mathematician Gustave Malécot....
, a measure of genetic similarity, still bears his name.