Edward Murray East

Edward Murray East (1879 to 1938) was an American plant geneticist, botanist and agronomist known for experiments that led to the development of hybrid corn. Working at Harvard University's Bussey Institute, he performed a key experiment showing the outcome of crosses between lines that differ in a quantitative trait; he was also an outspoken advocate of eugenics and of concern about environmental and population limits, positions later scholars have assessed very differently, some reading his population thinking as eugenics applied globally and others as driven chiefly by environmental concern.