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George Harrison Shull (1874-1854), US plant geneticist. Shull obtained his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1904. Most of his career was spent at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, where he worked at the Station for Experimental Evolution, Cold Spring Harbor, New York. His major work was on the genetics of maize, particularly hybrid forms of the crop. During his work, he observed and coined the term for the phenomenon of heterosis or hybrid vigor, with the hybrid maize being more vigorous than the parent breeds. For this work, he was awarded the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences in 1948.