Laurence Hasbrouck Snyder (July 23, 1901 – October 8, 1986) was a pioneer in human genetics and president of the University of Hawaii.
He was particularly proud of the beautiful mall, shaded by monkeypod trees, stretching from Varney Circle to East West Center Road.
[1][2] During their time there, Snyder’s mother showed symptoms of hemoglobinuric fever, forcing them to return to the United States and end their missionary.
[1] Snyder spent his childhood in Staten Island, spending a lot of time in the woods, fields, and lakes.
[4] Currently on the University of Hawaii campus is a major building named Snyder Hall, housing research contributing the medical field.
[1] For example, during his tenure as the president of the University of Hawaii, the internationally famed East-West Center was established in 1960 and was funded by the U.S. Department of State.
[1] In 1961, as president of the 10th Pacific Science Congress, which congregated in the East-West Center that year, Snyder gave the presidential address to 60 countries represented by 2054 delegates.
[1] In addition to Japan, Snyder visited and spoke in the Philippines (in over twenty Universities), Hong Kong, Okinawa, Taiwan, Thailand, and India.
[1] These visits and meetings with government officials from Pacific countries sparked interest and enthusiasm for the East-West Center and for a stronger relationship between the East and West.
These range over subjects that include blood groups, polydactylism, hemophilia, baldness, sex ratios, Rh incompatibility, and other topics.
However, in 1924, German mathematician Felix Bernstein introduced a triple-allele hypothesis, contending that population data fit better with a single blood-group gene with three alleles, A, B, O, as we know of now.
[5] In 1925, Snyder published his thesis in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, applying the triple-allele hypothesis to type humans based on racial groups.
[6] Collaborating with American physician William Allan, Snyder drew blood from North Carolina Cherokee Indians and quantitatively analyzed blood-group proportions among the various racial hybrids within this population.
[8] In the 1920s, there were only six clearly defined human traits whose genetics were well studied: the ABO blood group, the MN blood type, eye color, the direction of the whorl of hair at the back of the head, the presence of hair on the second joint of fingers and toes, and the dominant form of migraine discovered by William Allan.
In his research, Snyder collected data from 800 families with 2,843 children to cover sufficient ground on the possible genetic combinations of this allele.
He found that the gene PTC is associated with acted like a classic dominant, and both alleles (the taster and non-taster ones) are common.
"[12] Snyder strongly believed that genetics hold great medical benefit in terms of the prevention of disease, through reducing the incidence of hereditary illness or even eliminating them altogether.