|
( Thomas Hunt Morgan)
Thomas Hunt Morgan (September 25, 1866 – December 4, 1945) was an American geneticist and embryologist. Morgan received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 1890 and researched embryology during his tenure at Bryn Mawr. Following the rediscovery of Mendelian inheritance in 1900, Morgan's research moved to the study of mutation in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. In his famous Fly Room at Columbia University Morgan was able to demonstrate that genes are carried on chromosomes and are the mechanical basis of heredity. These discoveries formed the basis of the modern science of genetics. When he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 he was the first person awarded the Prize in genetics, for his discoveries concerning the role played by the chromosome in heredity[1]. During his distinguished career, Morgan wrote 22 books[2] and 370 scientific papers,[3] and, as a result of his work, Drosophila became a major model organism in contemporary genetics. The Division of Biology he established at the California Institute of Technology produced seven Nobel Prize winners. Morgan was born in Lexington, Kentucky, to Charlton Hunt Morgan and Ellen Key Howard Morgan.[4] Part of a long line of Southern aristocracy on his father's side, Morgan was a nephew of Confederate General John Hunt Morgan and his great-grandfather John Wesley Hunt had been the first millionaire west of the Allegheny Mountains. Through his mother, he was the great-grandson of Francis Scott Key, the author of the "Star Spangled Banner", and John Eager Howard, a one-time governor and senator from Maryland.[4] However, following the Civil War the family had fallen on harder times with the loss of civil and property rights for those who aided the Confederacy. His father also had difficulty finding work in politics and spent much of his time coordinating veterans reunions. Beginning at age 16 in the Preparatory Department, Morgan attended the State College of Kentucky (now the University of Kentucky). There, he focused on science; he particularly enjoyed natural history, and worked with the U.S. Geological Survey in his summers. He graduated as valedictorian in 1886 and was the only student[citation needed] to graduate with a bachelor in science.[5] Following a summer at the Marine Biology School in Annisquam, Massachusetts, Morgan began graduate studies in zoology at the recently founded Johns Hopkins University, the first research-oriented American university. After two years of experimental work with morphologist William Keith Brooks and several publications, Morgan was eligible to receive a master of science from the State College of Kentucky in 1888, the College required two years study at another institution and an examination by the College Faculty.[citation needed] The College offered Morgan a full professorship; however, he choose to stay at Johns Hopkins and was awarded a relatively large fellowship to help him fund his studies.[citation needed]
|
Thomas Hunt Morgan Subcategories
Thomas Hunt Morgan Articles
|
|
