1910 MORGAN, Thomas Hunt (1866 – 1945)

Sex-limited inheritance in Drosophila.

Morgan demonstrated sex-limited inheritance. In 1933 Morgan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physology or Medicine "for discoveries elucidating the role that the chromosome plays in heredity." See also Nos. 245.3, 246, …

GMN 245.2 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/8676

1927 MULLER, Hermann Joseph (1890 – 1967)

Artificial transmutation of the gene.

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 …

GMN 251.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/8680

1941 BEADLE, George Wells (1903 – 1989); TATUM, Edward Lawrie (1909 – 1975)

Genetic control of biochemical reactions in Neurospora.

Beadle and Tatum proposed the "one gene, one enzyme" hypothesis in 1941. This was a restatement of ideas originally proposed by Archibald Garrod (No. 244.1) in 1908. 1958 Beadle and Tatum shared the Nobel Prize in Phy…

GMN 254.3 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/8688

1946 TATUM, Edward Lawrie (1909 – 1975); LEDERBERG, Joshua (1925 – 2008)

Gene recombination in Escherichia coli.

Discovery of sexual processes in the reproduction of bacteria. In 1958 Lederberg shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Tatum and Beadle (No. 254.3) "for his discoveries concerning genetic recombination…

GMN 255.4 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/8693

1949 DULBECCO, Renato (1914 – 2012); LURIA, Salvador Edward (1912 – 1991)

Genetic recombinations leading to production of active bacteriophage from ultraviolet inactivated bacteriophage particles.

In 1969 Luria shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in with Delbrück (No. 2578.5) and A. D. Hershey (No. 256) "for their discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses."

GMN 2526.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3458

1950 MCCLINTOCK, Barbara (1902 – 1992)

The origin and behavior of mutable loci in maize.

"In the summer of 1944 at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, McClintock systematic studies on the mechanisms of the mosaic color patterns of maize seed and the unstable inheritance of this mosaicism.[44] She identified tw…

GMN 12063 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14272

1958 SNELL, George Davis (1903 – 1996)

Histocompatibility genes of the mouse.

Snell made fundamental contributions to transplantation genetics. At his suggestion genes governing transplantation were called histocompatibility genes and Gorer’s Antigen II became Histocompatibility-2 (H-2). In 198…

GMN 2578.30 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/4268

1968 KLUG, Sir Aaron (1926 – 2018); DEROSIER, David J.

Reconstruction of three-dimensional structures from electron micrographs.

Klug and deRosier invented methods for two-dimensional and three-dimensional digital image processing of electron microscope images. The latter method provided the theory behind the development of computed tomography …

GMN 13935 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16231

1970 SMITH, Hamilton Othanel (1931 – ); KELLY, T. J.

A restriction endonuclease from Hemophilus influenzae. II. Base sequence of the recognition site.

Discovery of the first type II restriction enzyme (HindII). Smith shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Werner Arber and Daniel Nathans "for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their applicat…

GMN 6889 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9053

1971 NATHANS, Daniel (1928 – 1999)

Specific cleavage of simian virus 40 DNA by restriction endonuclease of Hemophilus influenzae.

Nathans showed that the restriction enzyme discovered by Hamilton Smith cleaved SV40 DNA into 11 specific pieces. Nathans and his student Kathleen Danna wrote: "The availability of pieces of SV40 DNA from specific sit…

GMN 6890 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9054

1974 BRENNER, Sydney (1927 – 2019)

The genetics of CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS.

In 2002 Brenner shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in Physiology or Medicine with H. Robert Horvitz and John Sulston "for their discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programm…

GMN 9941 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12129

1974 HARTWELL, Leland Harrison (1939 – ); CULOTTI, Joseph; REID, Brian J.; PRINGLE, John R. (1943 – )

Genetic control of the cell division cycle in yeast.

In 2001 Hartwell shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Tim Hunt and Sir Paul M. Nurse "for their discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle." See also No. 13933. In this paper the authors demonstr…

GMN 13934 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16230

1976 VARMUS, Harold Eliot (1942 – ); BISHOP, John Michael (1936 – ); STEHELIN, Dominique (1943 – 2019); VOGT, Peter K. (1932 – )

DNA related to the transforming gene(s) of avian sarcoma viruses is present in normal avian DNA.

Discovery of the first “oncogene. In 1989 Varmus and Bishop shared the Nobel Prize for in Physiology or Medicine "for their discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes."

GMN 2660.28 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3441

1977 SANGER, Frederick (1918 – 2013)

DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors.

Sanger and colleagues developed methods for rapid sequencing of long sections of DNA molecules. Sanger’s method, and that developed by Gilbert and Maxam, made it possible to read the nucleotide sequence for entire gen…

GMN 6883 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9047

1977 GILBERT, Walter (1932 – ); MAXAM, Allan M. (1942 – )

A new method for sequencing DNA.

The Gilbert-Maxam method for sequencing DNA. This paper is available from PNAS at this link. In 1980 Gilbert shared the 1980 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Frederick Sanger and Paul Berg. Berg received half of the priz…

GMN 6926 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9091

1978 LEWIS, Edward Butts (1918 – 2004)

A gene complex controlling segmentation in Drosophila.

Discovery of the Drosophila Bithorax complex and elucidation of its function. Lewis founded the field of developmental genetics and laid the groundwork for current understanding of the universal, evolutionarily conser…

GMN 7456 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9628

1980 NÜSSLEIN-VOLHARD, Christiane (1942 – ); WIESCHAUS, Eric Francis (1947 – )

Mutations affecting segment number and polarity in Drosophilia.

In 1995 Nüsslein-Volhard and Wieschaus shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Edward B. Lewis "for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development."

GMN 7455 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9627

1985 MULLIS, Kary Banks (1944 – 2019); ET AL

Enzymatic amplication of B-globin genomic sequences and restriction site analysis for diagnosis of sickle cell anemia.

Polymerase chain reaction first published. With Randall K. Saiki, Stephen Scharf, Fred Faloona et al. Order of authorship in the original paper was Saiki, Scharf, Faloona, Mullis.... In 1993 the Nobel Prize in Chemist…

GMN 10785 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12981

1987 CAPECCHI, Mario Ramberg (1937 – ); THOMAS, Kirk R.

Site-directed mutagenesis by gene targeting in mouse embryo-derived stem cells.

In 2007 Capecchi shared the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Martin J. Evans and Oliver Smithies "for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of em…

GMN 13931 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16226

2014 PÄÄBO, Svante (1955 – )

The complete genome sequence of a Neanderthal from the Altai Mountains.

First complete sequence of a Neanderthal genome. With more than 20 co-authors. In 2022 Pääbo was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and hu…

GMN 7289 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9459