What is Edmund Beecher Wilson?
'''Edmund Beecher Wilson''' ([[Geneva, Illinois|Geneva]], [[Illinois]], 19 October 1856 – 3 March 1939) was a pioneering [[United States|American]] [[zoologist]] and cell biologist. He wrote one of the most famous textbooks in the history of modern biology, ''The Cell''.<ref>Wilson E.B. 1896; 1900; 1925. ''The cell in development and inheritance''. Macmillan. The third edition ran to 1232 pages, and was still in use after [[WWII]].</ref><ref>Sturtevant A.H. 1965. ''A history of genetics''. Harper & Row, N.Y. p33</ref> == Career == Wilson graduated from [[Yale University|Yale]] in 1878. He earned his [[doctorate]] at [[Johns Hopkins University|Johns Hopkins]] in 1881. He was a lecturer at Williams College in 1883–84 and at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] in 1884–85. He served as [[professor]] of [[biology]] at [[Bryn Mawr College]] from 1885 to 1891. He spent the balance of his career at [[Columbia University]] where he was successively adjunct professor of biology (1891–94), professor of [[invertebrate]] zoology (1894–1897), and professor of zoology (from 1897). Wilson is credited as America's first [[Cell biology|cell biologist]]. In 1898 he used the similarity in [[embryo]]s to describe [[evolution]]ary relationships. By observing spiral cleavage in [[mollusc]]s, [[flatworm]]s and [[annelid]]s he concluded that the same organs came from the same group of cells and concluded that all these organisms must have a common ancestor. He also discovered the [[chromosome|chromosomal]] XY sex-determination system in 1905—that males have XY and females XX sex chromosomes. Nettie Stevens independently made the same discovery the same year. In 1907, he described, for the first time, the additional or supernumerary chromosomes, now called [[B chromosome|B-chromosomes]]. Professor Wilson published many papers on embryology, and served as President of the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] in 1913. The [[American Society for Cell Biology]] annually awards the E.B. Wilson Medal in h