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Charels Darwin Publishes "Origin of Species"
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Gregor Johann Mendel
Was a monk living in Austria who, over a 7 year study of nearly 29000 pea plants, discovered how certain characteristics could change when two plants were interbred -
Fredrick Miesher
He isolated nucleic acids from white blood cells. The cells contained nitrogen and phosphoreus but no sulfur as he had expected. The separating of the DNA from the nucleus allowed other scientists to analyze it and discover more. -
Walther Flemming
Made one of the top 100 most important scientific discoveries ever. He observed metosis (cell division) of a parent cell into two exact copies, including the chromosomes they carried. His work was published in 1878 and again in 1882 -
Wilhelm Johannsen
Was a Danish scientist who came up with the terms genotype and phenotype to explain the possible variations in a pure strain of bean. He also came up with the term gene to explain certain traits and their causes. His most important theory is that some traits are expressed depending upon their environment and not just a gene. -
Walter Sutton
He and Theodor Boveri each independently came up with the theory that Mendel’s law of inheritance could be used all the way down at the cellular level. -
Archibald Garrod
Was a British doctor who connected certain unknown metabolic diseases with genetic inheritance. He came up with the theory of “one gene one enzyme” and that recessive genes are responsible for most enzyme problems. -
Thomas Hunt Morgan
Received the 1933 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of the link between chromosomes and their roll in inherited traits. -
It is proven that genes are made up of DNA.
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Francis Crick and James Watson
Used data collected by Rosalind Franklin and extrapolated the idea of the double helix from it.
Also won the Nobel Prize for Medicine -
Joe Hin Tjio
While on a vacation to Sweden, he, in conjunction with Professor Albert Levan, discovered that humans only had 46 chromosomes instead of the previously thought 48. The discovery was published one month and four days later -
Sydney Brenner, Francois Jacob and Matthew Meselson
They proved that protein synthesis occurs in ribosomes and confirmed the existence of messenger RNA. -
Marshall Warren Nirenberg
In conjunction with Har Gobind Khorana and Robert W. Holley broke the genetic code and were able to show how it controls protein synthesis. For this work they won a Nobel Prize and other prestigious awards. -
Barbara McClintock
She is most known for wining the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1983. She studied the recombination of genes after crossing over in meiosis. She was also the first to link certain parts of chromosomes with there physical expression. -
First Disease Gene Mapped: Huntington disease on chromosome 4
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Matthew Meselson and Franklin Stahl
The two scientists created an experiment that showed that DNA replication in cells is Semiconservative (or that it uses one strand of existing DNA to create the other). This is a fundamental part of why DNA can pass on from one cell to the next and from one person to the next. The experiment has been called "the most beautiful experiment in biology.” -
FDA approves sale of genetically modified foods.
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First Human Chromosome to be Completely Sequenced: Chromosome 22
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Human genome completed