Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics

The Arthur Balfour Professorship of Genetics is the senior professorship in genetics at the University of Cambridge, founded in 1912. It is thought to be the oldest Chair of Genetics in the English speaking world.

The chair was endowed by Reginald Baliol Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher, according to whom the money (£20,000) was "placed in [his] hands" by an anonymous benefactor, widely considered to have been Arthur James Balfour. A condition of the endowment was that the first appointee to the chair would be chosen jointly by the Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith and the former Prime Minister Arthur James Balfour.