A Brief and Incomplete History of Molecular Biology
1865 Gregor Mendel phenotypic basis of inheritance
1868 Friedrich Meischer discovers "nuclein" -in pus & fish sperm
1887
August Weismann describes reduction division of chromosomes
1903 Walter Sutton describes meiosis & spermatogenesis in insects
"Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance"
1909 Thomas Hunt Morgan Drosophilia, chromosmal linkage & crossing over
1910 Alfred Stuartevant mapping of genes on chromsomes
1924 Robert Fuelgen cytochemical staining & identification of DNA
1928 Fred Griffith used pneumococcus & described gene transformation
1933 Ted Painter identifies polytene chromosomes
1930's George Beadle & Ed Tatum "one gene - one enzyme"
1940's Linus Pauling peace identifies alpha helix structure of proteins
1940's Maurice Wilkins & Rosy Franklin X-ray diffraction - structure of DNA
1944 Oswald Avery, Maclyn MacLeod, & Colin McCarty chemically suggest that
"DNA is genetic material "
1950 Erwin Chargaff "Chargaff's Rule" - DNA base complimentarity A:T G:C
1950's Fred Sanger tRNA sequences 1st protein - insulin
1951 Alfred Hershey & Martha Chase 32P viral DNA replication = genes are DNA
1952 James Watson & Francis Crick identify model structure of DNA
1956 Arthur Kornberg describes action of DNA polymerase
1950's Peter Mitchell Chemiosmosis - how cells make ATP
1958 Matt Meselson & Frank Stahl semiconservative replication of DNA
1960 Paul Doty & Jay Marmur Tm-hyperchromicity DNA - DNA hybridization
1961 Holley, Khorana, & Nirenberg & Henirich Mattaei identifies Genetic Code
1963 Jerome Vinograd identifies super-coiled structure of DNA
1968 Stanley Cohen discovers plasmids & antibiotic resistance
1969 Edmonds & Caramelai identifies poly-A-polymerase
1970 Herbert Boyer discovers restriction endonuclease
1971 Gunter Blobel signal hypothesis
1972 Paul Berg Recombinant DNA's - splices SV40 & E coli
1975 Walter Gilbert, Allan Maxam, Fred Sanger develop DNA sequences techniques
1975 Cesar Milstein, Geo. Kohler, & Niles Jeme develop monoclonal antibodies
1976 Robert Swanson & Herb Boyer create GENENTECH biopharmaceutical Co.
1977 Richard Roberts & Philip Sharp identifies split genes (introns & exons)
1978 Genentech, Inc. produces Humulin 1st recombinant DNA drug
1981 Sidney Altman & Tom Cech identifies ribozymes
1985 Kary Mullis creates PCR - Polymerase Chain Reaction
1989 HGP Project project to sequence entire human genome
1990 French Anderson 1st use of Recombinant DNA drug (ADA)
1992 Harry Noller peptidyl transferase is a ribozyme
1992 Edmund Fischer & Edwin Krebs identify protein phosphorylation
1993 Kerry Mullis creates PCR reaction
1994 Calgene FlavrSavr tomato 1st transgenic food
1996 Ian Wilmut mammalian cloning & Dolly
1997 Paul Boyer & John Walker describes ATP synthase mechanism
1998 James Thompson & John Gearhart plueripotent (stem) cells cultured
1999 Craig Venter complete gene sequence of Drosophila identified
2000 Craig Venter Human Genome sequence announced