Chapter 4 Section 3 The Cell and Inheritance According to the chromosome theory of inheritance, genes are carried from parents to their offspring on chromosomes. Walter S. Sutton (1877 - 1916) Sutton, born in Utica, New York, attended Columbia University and obtained his doctorate in medicine in 1907.

While Sutton was working as a graduate student at Columbia University, he became the first scientist to provide evidence that chromosomes carried the cell's units of inheritance. While studying grasshopper cells, Sutton observed that chromosomes occurred in distinct pairs, and that during meiosis, the chromosome pairs split, and each chromosome goes to its own cell. Sutton announced this discovery in his 1902 paper "On the Morphology of the Chromosome Group in Brachyotola."

In 1903, Sutton discovered that chromosomes contained genes, and that their behavior during meiosis was random, concepts that later provided the basis for the Chromosomal Theory of Heredity. Despite the implications of his discovery to the field of genetics, Sutton pursued a career practicing general surgery in Kansas City, Kansas until his death.

Meiosis – is the process by which the number of chromosomes is reduced by half to form sex cells.

During meiosis, the chromosome pairs separate and are distributed to different cells. The resulting sex cells have only half as many chromosomes as the other cells in the organism. The human body contains 23 chromosome pairs or 46 chromosomes.