Jones, Donald Forsha

Donald Forsha Jones, (born April 16, 1890, Hutchinson, Kan., U.S.—died June 19, 1963, Hamden, Conn.), American geneticist and agronomist who made hybrid corn (maize) commercially feasible.

Jones earned his B.S. degree at Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science, Manhattan, in 1911. For the next two years he worked at the Arizona Agricultural Experiment Station, Tucson. In 1914 he went to Harvard University, where he studied under Edward M. East, who was directing experiments in the inbreeding of corn in search of a high-yield hybrid. In 1917 Jones successfully combined two single-cross hybrid corn varieties in a double cross, or four-way combination, that resulted in a new, uniform, highly productive variety. Jones produced the first hybrid sweet corn in 1924; within a few years corn growing in the United States had been revolutionized by the new plant, which made possible greater yields on smaller acreage.

Jones made two other major contributions, one in theory, the other in practice. He postulated a genetic interpretation of hybrid vigour on the basis of the principles of heredity established by Gregor Mendel. By his development (with Paul C. Mangelsdorf) of a method of genetically transmitting pollen sterility, he eliminated from fieldwork the costly job of detasseling, until then necessary in growing hybrid corn seed.