"Beginning in 1976, Nurse identified the gene cdc2 in fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe). This gene controls the progression of the cell cycle from G1 phase to S phase and the transition from G2 phase to mitosis. In 1987, Nurse identified the homologous gene in human, Cdk1, which codes for a cyclin dependent kinase." (Wikipedia article on Paul Nurse).

See also: Lee, M. G.; Nurse, P., "Complementation used to clone a human homologue of the fission yeast cell cycle control gene cdc2," Nature, 327, 1987, 31-35.

In 2001 Sir Paul Nurse shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2001 with Leland H. Hartwell and Tim "for their discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle."

Order of authorship in the original publication: Nurse, Thuriaux, Nasmyth.