When McClintock moved to the Carnegie Institute, Brown transferred to the University of California at Davis, where he received his Ph.D. in genetics for his study on Californian blackberries (Rubus spp.)
[2] During the war he worked briefly in a shipyard as a welder and afterwards took an interest in psychotherapy and sought to become a professional and obtained admission to the Stanford and UCSF medical schools but decided not to follow it.
[6][7][8] Spencer conducted cytological and karyological studies on tomatoes,[9] Drosophila and was especially interested in maternal effects.
[12][13][14] He identified the elimination of paternal genomes in male scale insects and noticed variations across several families and examined the evolution of these systems.
[2] Brown was found dead at age 57 in his duplex apartment after failing to appear at a commencement ceremony.