Albert Francis Blakeslee was born in Geneseo, New York, on November 9, 1874. After graduating from Wesleyan University in 1896, Blakeslee taught mathematics and science at Montpelier Seminary in Vermont and at the East Greenwich Academy in Rhode Island, before pursuing his graduate degree at Harvard. He received his Ph.D. in 1904. Blakeslee spent his summers at the Biological Laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor as an assistant in Botany.

After completing his degree, Blakeslee went to Europe as a Carnegie Institution of Washington Fellow. He then returned to Harvard as Instructor in Botany, and in 1907 he accepted the position of Professor of Botany and Director of the Summer School at the Connecticut Agricultural College in Storrs (now the University of Connecticut). In 1912 and 1913, he worked at the Carnegie Institution's Station for Experimental Evolution in Cold Spring Harbor, later to be called the Department of Genetics, and in 1915 he joined the staff as a resident investigator in genetics. He became Assistant Director of the Department in 1923. When Charles Davenport retired in 1934, Blakeslee was appointed Acting Director and, a year later, Director of CSHL. He remained in that position until his retirement in 1941. In 1942 Blakeslee moved to Smith College where he organized the Smith College Genetics Experiment Station. He and his group carried on productive research there for twelve years.

Two dominant interests, biological research and teaching, were strongly expressed in Blakeslee's character. By virtue of innate ability, originality, and perseverance he was able to achieve outstanding success in both activities. As a teacher, both at Connecticut and many years later at Smith College, he was very effective in arousing the interest and intellectual curiosity of his students. Blakeslee's research career yielded a number of major contributions in the field of biology, and particularly in genetics. His observations established heterothallism in fungi, and led to recognition of the fact that these simple organisms reproduce by sexual fusion-a completely new and sensational idea, which has exerted important influence in both mycology and genetics.

Blakeslee later studied higher plants, including Datura. In Blakeslee's hands, Datura became one of the most useful of plants for genetic research. Through his efforts, methods of culture were developed that allowed four generations per year to be raised from seed, or a desirable plant to be propagated indefinitely by grafting. He perfected cytological techniques for the efficient study of chromosomal configurations appearing in crosses within a species or between species. He extended the possibilities for crossing mutant types and, more particularly, different species, with splicing procedures. During his Datura research, Blakeslee assembled a large variety of chromosomal types and a collection of 541 gene mutations, 81 of which are located in specific chromosomes.

Blakeslee was the recipient of many scientific honors and recognitions, both in the United States and abroad. In addition to receiving seven honorary degrees, he was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a foreign member of the Royal Academies of Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden, and an honorary member of nine foreign scientific societies. He was president, at various times, of the AAAS, the American Society of Naturalists, the Botanical Society of America, the Society for the Study of Development and Growth, and the Torrey Botanical Club.

Blakslee died in Northampton, Massachusetts, on November 16, 1954, one week after his eightieth birthday.