In 1914 the Institute for Heredity Research in Germany was founded in Berlin as part of the Agricultural College. Erwin Baur (1875-1933) became the director. He decided to occupy the niche of Mendelian and Morganian genetics. This involved adopting a reductionist, quantitative and experimental approach. This approach was not only very successful from the scientific perspective, but also from the viewpoint of applications to agriculture. Baur and his scientific institute had a bond with agriculture. Baur’s whole life showed his attachment to farming. He grew up on a farm. On his private estate he practised farming. His identity was shaped by his farming background. He strived after good relationships with and recognition of the German agricultural community. Baur’s natural attachment to farming eased his entry into agricultural institutions and organizations. He was a member of the relevant agricultural organizations. He attended their meetings, where he sometimes gave lectures and participated in discussions. And the experimental organisms that were used in his institute were often of interest for agriculture. His scientific staff was often paid by agricultural organizations. Mutual recognition of their common agricultural identity between him and the leadership of the Agricultural College will also have eased his entry into the Agricultural College.

The new field of knowledge had therefore two faces: it was on the one hand a science, but on the other hand it was inextricably linked to agriculture. Baur sought and found recognition in agricultural as well as scientific organizations. The experiments conducted at his institute were carried out on agriculturally interesting plants and animals, like grains and chickens, or mainly scientifically relevant ones, like snapdragons and mice. The aim of the investigations was sometimes agricultural, sometimes scientific. The Institute for Heredity Research had many of the characteristics of a farm and many of the characteristics of a scientific institute. It is relevant to realize that an institute with these characteristics became the most prominent one in the world of genetics in Germany the 1920s and that it was the vehicle through which, in Germany, the discipline of genetics emerged and became established. I will demonstrate the two faces of the first German genetics institute by discussing its emergence, rise, its heyday and decline.