James Herbert Taylor (January 14, 1916 in Corsicana, Texas – December 29, 1998 in Tallahassee, Florida)[1][2] was an American molecular biologist and geneticist known for his research on chromosome structure and reproduction, which helped establish standards for the subsequent field of molecular genetics.
[3] According to a 2006 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory textbook, “Taylor comes as close as anyone to being the father of the field” of studying chromosomes.
[4] Taylor served as a sergeant in the Army Medical Corps during World War II.
In 1983, he was appointed the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of Biological Science at FSU.
[4] Taylor received a Guggenheim Fellowship in genetics in 1958,[5] and was elected president of the American Society for Cell Biology in 1969.