Gregor Mendel 1860- Shows that characteristics of pea plants are passed along in a predictable pattern. He begins the science of genetics.
Walter Sutton 1903- Shows that chromosomes carry a cells inheritance
Thomas Hunt Morgan 1911- Demonstrates that genes are arranged in a line on the chromosomes of a fruit fly.
Fredrick Griffith 1928- Discovers that bacteria contain a molecule that can transfer genetic information.
Avery, Macleod, McCarty 1944- Shows that what Griffith discovered was DNA
Erwin Chargaff 1950- Analyzes the composition of DNA. Discovers that the amount of adenine and thymine are almost always equal, and so are guanine and cytosine.
Hershey and Chase 1952- Confirm that genetic makeup of viruses is DNA, not proteins.
Watson and Crick 1953- Publish model of DNA as a double helix.
Venter and Collins 2000- Announce draft of DNA sequence of human genome.
