By Elyse Tanouye Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal Updated June 28, 1996 12:01 a.m. ET Sorry, Dad. You may be responsible for your son's big nose, but all the credit for the kid's genius goes to Mom. That, at least, is the latest thinking in genetics laboratories. Boys inherit their intelligence from their mothers, according to Gillian Turner, an Australian geneticist. She cites growing evidence that several genes for intelligence are located on the X chromosome, which men inherit only from their mothers (along with a tiny Y from their fathers). Women, in contrast, receive an X chromosome from each parent so they can theoretically inherit their father's intelligence. Some very smart men do, in fact, give their mothers considerable credit. William A. Haseltine, chairman of Human Genome Sciences Inc. and a former professor at Harvard Medical School, attests to the brilliance of both of his parents, but he traces his creativity -- "a very important trait in science" -- to his mother, Jean Ellsberg Haseltine, who was accomplished in languages, literature and painting. Albert J. Dunlap, a turnaround expert and former head of Scott Paper Co., says his mother, who didn't graduate from high school, was "inherently very smart." She helped him learn to organize his life, set goals and pay attention to financial details. "Many traits I've been credited with can be traced back to her," he says. The gene theory would explain a phenomenon that has puzzled scientists for years: Men and women tend to have the same mean IQ scores, but there are more males who are either geniuses or mentally retarded. Dr. Turner argues in this week's issue of the medical journal the Lancet that because a man has only one X chromosome, he will experience the full effect of the intelligence genes that produce either high IQ or mental handicaps. In women, the effect of a gene on one X chromosome may be diluted by the matching gene on the other. But genes tell only half the story, says Abbie Salny, the supervisory psychologist for American Mensa Ltd., an organization for people with high IQs. A person with innate intelligence may need a nurturing environment for intelligence to fully develop, she says. Nevertheless, Dr. Turner suggests, a man should ignore the "primitive urges in mate selection" that target sexual attractiveness, and remember that his future sons' intelligence will be determined by the intelligence of the mate he picks.