Thomas Hunt Morgan summary

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Thomas Hunt Morgan, (born Sept. 25, 1866, Lexington, Ky., U.S.—died Dec. 4, 1945, Pasadena, Calif.), U.S. zoologist and geneticist. He received his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. As a professor at Columbia University (1904–28) and California Institute of Technology (1928–45), he conducted important research on heredity. Like many of his contemporaries, Morgan found Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection implausible because it could not be tested experimentally, and he objected to Mendelian and chromosome theories, arguing that no single chromosome could carry specific hereditary traits. His opinion changed as a result of his studies of Drosophila. He developed the hypothesis of sex-linked traits. He adopted the term gene and concluded that genes were possibly arranged in a linear fashion on chromosomes. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1933. See also Calvin Blackman Bridges.

Nobel Prize Summary

Nobel Prize, any of the prizes (five in number until 1969, when a sixth was added) that are awarded annually from a fund bequeathed for that purpose by the Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Nobel. The Nobel Prizes are widely regarded as the most prestigious awards given for intellectual

physiology Summary

Physiology, study of the functioning of living organisms, animal or plant, and of the functioning of their constituent tissues or cells. The word physiology was first used by the Greeks around 600 bce to describe a philosophical inquiry into the nature of things. The use of the term with specific

medicine Summary

Medicine, the practice concerned with the maintenance of health and the prevention, alleviation, or cure of disease. The World Health Organization at its 1978 international conference held in the Soviet Union produced the Alma-Ata Health Declaration, which was designed to serve governments as a

gene Summary

Gene, unit of hereditary information that occupies a fixed position (locus) on a chromosome. Genes achieve their effects by directing the synthesis of proteins. In eukaryotes (such as animals, plants, and fungi), genes are contained within the cell nucleus. The mitochondria (in animals) and the