Background
Panye was born in Shelbyville, Indiana.
Panye was born in Shelbyville, Indiana.
Indiana University.
He received a Bachelor of Science from Valparaiso University in 1901 and a Bachelor of Arts from Indiana University in 1905, and a Master of Arts in 1906. He undertook graduate studies at Columbia University with Thomas Hunt Morgan, his research took place when the use of fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster was being established in Morgan"s laboratory One of Payne"s projects was to breed flies in the dark, if a generation of blind flies was produced then a model of Lamarckism would be confirmed.
After producing 69 generation of flies grown in the dark Payne failed to produce a blind fly.
Payne also helped Morgan produce X-ray mutagenised flies, these were used for many years to come in Morgans laboratory Payne completed his Doctor of Philosophy in 1909.
Payne returned to Indiana University where he was made associate professor He remained at the University for the remainder of his career, he was credited with introducing genetics to the University and attracting other researchers to Indiana University like Hermann Joseph Muller and Salvatore Luria who both became Nobel laureates.
Asteroid 2496 Fernandus, discovered October 8, 1953 by the Indiana Asteroid Program, is named for him.
He also served on the board of trustees for Science Service, now known as Society for Science & the Public, from 1953-1954.