C. D. Darlington
British biologist (1903-1981)
Cyril Dean Darlington (19 December 1903 – 26 March 1981) was an English biologist, cytologist, geneticist, and eugenicist. He discovered the mechanics of chromosomal crossover, its role in inheritance, and thus its importance to evolution. He was the Sherardian Professor of Botany at the University of Oxford from 1953 to 1971.
Darlington's research on genetics contributed to the modern evolutionary synthesis in the 20th century. However, many of his views are controversial; Darlington was listed in 1999 by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an example of a prominent race scientist who espoused antisemitism, eugenics, racism, and social Darwinism.
Biography
Early life
Cyril Darlington was born in Chorley, a small cotton town in Lancashire, England in 1903. He had one brother, six years older. His father, William, was a teacher at a small school. When Darlington was eight, the family moved to London. His childhood was an unhappy one, characterized by a stern, bitter, and frustrated father, who struggled against poverty.
“C. D. Darlington” enters the record as british biologist (1903-1981). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Darlington, British and biologist can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1148597. VIAF identifies the subject as 68993085. The Library of Congress control number is n50037919. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1903, 1981, 1953 and 1971.
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This entry incorporates text from “C. D. Darlington” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.