in Canada. Down syndrome V Harold Varmus (born 1939), US Nobel Prize-winner for oncogenes, head of NIH Rajeev Kumar Varshney (born 1973), Indian geneticist, principal scientist at ICRISAT and theme leader at Generation Challenge Programme Nikolai Vavilov (1887–1943), eminent Russian botanist and geneticist, anti-Lysenko, died in prison Craig Venter (born 1946), US molecular biologist and entrepreneur, raced to sequence the genome Jerome Vinograd (1913–1976), US, leader in biochemistry and molecular biology of nucleic acids Peter Visscher, Dutch Australian geneticist who works on the genetic architecture of complex traits Friedrich Vogel (1925–2006), German, leader in human genetics, coined term "pharmacogenetics" Bert Vogelstein (born 1949), US pediatrician and cancer geneticist, series of mutations in colorectal cancer Erik Adolf von Willebrand (1870–1949), Finnish internist who found commonest bleeding disorder W Petrus Johannes Waardenburg (1886–1979), Dutch ophthalmologist, geneticist, Waardenburg syndrome C. H. Waddington (1905–1975), British developmental biologist, paleontologist, geneticist, embryologist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913), Welsh, proposed natural selection theory independent of Darwin Douglas C. Wallace (born 1946), US mitochondrial geneticist, pioneered the use of human mtDNA as a molecular marker Peter Walter (born 1954), German-US molecular biologist studying protein folding and protein targeting Richard H. Ward (1943–2003), English-born New Zealand human and anthropological geneticist James D. Watson (born 1928), US molecular geneticist, Nobel Prize for discovery of the double helix David Weatherall (1933–2018), distinguished UK physician, geneticist, pioneer in hemoglobin and molecular medicine Robert Weinberg (born 1942), US, discovered first human oncogene and first tumor suppressor gene Wilhelm Weinberg (1862–1937), German physician, formulated basic law of population genetics Spencer Wells (born 1969), US genetic anthropologist, head of Genographic Project to map past migrations Susan R. Wessler (born 1953), US plant molecular geneticist, transposable elements re genetic diversity Raymond L. White (1943–2018), US cancer geneticist, cloned APC colon cancer gene and neurofibromatosis gene Glayde Whitney (1939–2002), US behavioral geneticist, accused of supporting scientific racism Reed Wickner (born c. 1942), US molecular geneticist, yeast phenotypes due to prion forms of native proteins Alexander S. Wiener (1907–1976), U.S. immunologist, discovered Rh blood groups with Landsteiner Eric F. Wieschaus (born 1947), US developmental biologist and Nobel Prize-winner Maurice Wilkins (1916–2004), New Zealand-born British Nobel Prize-winner with Watson and Crick Huntington Willard (born c. 1953), US human geneticist, X chromosome inactivation, gene silencing Harold G. Williams (born 1929), US, Oklahoma cattle geneticist pioneer Robley Williams (1908–1995), US virologist, recreated tobacco mosaic virus from its RNA + protein coat Ian