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Definition: heredity from Philip's Encyclopedia

Transmission of characteristics from one generation of plants or animals to another. Characteristics, such as red hair, may be specific to individuals within a group; others, such as the possession of external ears, may be typical of a group as a whole. The combination of characteristics that makes up an organism and makes it different from others is set out in the organism's genetic code, passed on from its parents. Austrian naturalist Gregor Mendel conducted the first studies of heredity.


heredity

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
transmission from generation to generation through the process of reproduction in plants and animals of factors which cause the offspring to resemble their parents. That like begets like has been a maxim since ancient times. Although the fact of heredity has been generally known for centuries, the actual mechanisms by which inherited characteristics are transmitted to successive generations could not be satisfactorily explained until powerful enough microscopes and sufficiently refined research techniques disclosed the true nature of the universal reproductive processes of cell division and those, in “higher” animals, in which the sperm and the ovum, containing the hereditary material (see chromosome ) in their cell nuclei, unite to give rise to the new individual. Thus the science of heredity developed long after practical observations of breeding and of parent-child resemblance had been noted and also after the theory of evolution had been established. In the 18th cent. the popular…
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Full text Article heredity

From Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology
This incorporates the idea that characteristics such as intelligence , strength, or criminality have a biological basis and can be transmitted between generations . Some versions, following the pre-Darwinian biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829), suggest that acquired characteristics can be…
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Full text Article heredity

From The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology
The basic principles of the science of heredity - the study of the transmission by breeding of discrete units of inheritance (genes) from parents to children - were discovered by G. J. Mendel (1822-84) through a study of peas in 1865. These experiments laid the foundations for genetics (the science…
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Full text Article HEREDITY

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
English geneticist An exact determination of the laws of heredity will probably work more change in a man's outlook on the world and in his power over nature that any other advance in natural knowledge that can be clearly foreseen. Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution…
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Full text Article heredity

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
transmission from generation to generation through the process of reproduction in plants and animals of factors which cause the offspring to resemble their parents. That like begets like has been a maxim since ancient times. Although the fact of heredity has been generally known for centuries, the…
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Full text Article heredity

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Transmission of traits from parents to offspring through genes , the functional units of heritable material that are found within all living cell s. From his studies in the mid-19th century, Gregor Mendel derived certain basic concepts of heredity, which eventually became the foundation for the…
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Full text Article Heredity

From Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology
The process by which the genetic code of parents is passed on to their children. Parents pass on certain traits to their children. These traits include eye color, hair color, height, and other physical characteristics. The coding for these traits lies inside all human cells, specifically within…
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Full text Article heredity

From The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology
Most broadly, the biological transmission of genetic characteristics from parent to offspring. The study of heredity is predicated on several fundamental considerations:(a) the biological principles of genetics and genetic transmission;(b) the impact of the environment, the conditions under which an…
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Full text Article Heredity

From 50 Biology Ideas You Really Need to Know
Heredity
Characteristics are passed from one generation to the next according to common principles that apply to everything from plants to people. The discovery of these laws of inheritance revealed that information is transmitted as discrete particles, units of heredity we now call genes. Darwin was right…
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From The Encyclopedia of Suicide
There are no known specific genetic predispositions that will directly cause a person to commit suicide and die or to exhibit other suicidal behaviors, such as thinking about suicide (suicidal ideation), planning a suicide, or attempting a suicide. However, there are some genetic linkages to…
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Full text Article heredity

From The Chambers Dictionary
the transmission of recognizable characteristics to descendants; the sum of such characteristics transmitted; heritability. [L’ hērēditās , -ātis , from hērēs , -ēdis an heir] n. adj that may be inherited. /her-id-/ n any property that may pass to an heir. n an adherent of hereditā'rianism , the…
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