The picture above shows Reginald Punnett (left) with his professor and then colleague William Bateson. As their experiments progressed, they soon realized the vast body of research that lay before them and the rest of the scientific community. They started the first genetics department at Cambridge University.
Sir Reginald Punnett was born at the turn of the 20th century in England. While in medical school at Cambridge University he became interested in research and starting working on reproducing Mendel’s experiments with Bateson, a professor at the college.
He noted the need for a mathematical tool to predict phenotype and turned to his mathematician cricket partner to help devise a tool. Thus the Punnett square was born!