An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

MULLER, Hermann Joseph

3 entries
  • 246

The mechanism of Mendelian heredity.

New York: H. Holt, 1915.

Summarizes the major early findings of Morgan’s Drosophila research group, which based its research on the rapidly reproducing small vinegar fly, Drosophila melanogaster, often called the fruit fly. This epoch-making book presented evidence that genes were arranged linearly on chromosomes, and that the Mendelian laws could be shown to be based on observable events occurring in cells. The group also showed that heredity could be studied rigorously and quantitatively. Morgan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1933.

Order of authorship in the original publication: Morgan, Sturtevant, Muller, Bridges.
Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.



Subjects: GENETICS / HEREDITY
  • 251.1

Artificial transmutation of the gene.

Science, 66, 84-7, 1927.

Muller showed that radiation causes mutations that are passed on from one generation to the next. This was the first suggestion that inherited traits might be altered or controlled, and it created a sensation: “Man’s most precious substance, the hereditary material which he could pass on to his offspring, was now potentially in his control. X rays could speed up evolution,’ if not in practice at least in the headlines. Like the discoveries of Einstein and Rutherford, Muller’s tampering with a fundamental aspect of nature provoked the public awe.“(Carlson). See also Muller's follow-up paper, "The production of mutations in x-rays," Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 14 (1928) 714-26. 

Muller was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1946 for his work on the genetic effects of radiation. 



Subjects: BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, GENETICS / HEREDITY
  • 7468

Genetic nucleic acid: Key material in the origin of life.

Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 5,1–23, 1961.

Muller was one of the earliest proponents of a genetics-first theory for the origin of life. 



Subjects: BIOLOGY › Astrobiology / Exobiology / Abiogenesis, BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY › Nucleic Acids, GENETICS / HEREDITY