Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866

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Biography

Thomas Hunt Morgan was an American evolutionary biologist, geneticist, embryologist, and science author who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for discoveries elucidating the role that the chromosome plays in heredity.

Timeline

The story of Thomas Hunt Morgan, told in moments.

1910 Event

Started breeding fruit flies in a cramped lab at Columbia known as the "Fly Room." He was skeptical of Mendelian genetics. Then a white-eyed mutant appeared in a jar of red-eyed flies, and everything changed.

What made you skeptical of Mendelian genetics before the white-eyed fly? Was the Fly Room as cramped and magical as they say? Did that one mutant fly change your mind instantly?

1915 Life

Published The Mechanism of Mendelian Heredity with his students Sturtevant, Bridges, and Muller. Proved that genes are located on chromosomes. The Fly Room became the birthplace of modern genetics.

Did your students Sturtevant, Bridges, and Muller feel like partners or pupils? How did you prove genes live on chromosomes? Was the Fly Room the birthplace of modern genetics or just the nursery?

1933 Event

Won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his chromosome discoveries. Shared the prize money with his three former students. Seven future Nobel laureates trained in the biology division he built at Caltech.

Why share the Nobel prize money with your former students? Does seven future Nobel laureates from your program feel like your real prize? Was Caltech the right place to build?

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