Thomas Hunt Morgan

Thomas Hunt Morgan (September 25, 1866 – December 4, 1945) was an American evolutionary biologist, geneticist, and embryologist. In 1933, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries on the role of chromosomes in heredity.

Morgan received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in zoology in 1890 and researched embryology during his tenure at Bryn Mawr. Following the rediscovery of Mendelian inheritance in 1900, Morgan began to study the genetic characteristics of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. In his famous Fly Room at Columbia University's Schermerhorn Hall, Morgan demonstrated that genes are carried on chromosomes and are the mechanical basis of heredity. These discoveries formed the basis of the modern science of genetics.

During his distinguished career, Morgan wrote 22 books and 370 scientific papers. As a result of his work, Drosophila became a major model organism in contemporary genetics. The Division of Biology which he established at the California Institute of Technology has produced seven Nobel Prize winners.

Awards: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Copley Medal, Darwin Medal, Croonian Medal and Lecture, Foreign Member of the Royal Society, Silliman Memorial Lectures, doctor honoris causa from the University of Paris Education: Johns Hopkins University, University of Kentucky, Columbia University

Source: Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hunt_Morgan