Thomas Hunt Morgan

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at Thomas Hunt Morgan. According to the paper, Morgan was an American pioneer in the fields of genetics and embryology. The paper discusses Morgan's studies of mutation in Drosophila melanogaster, more commonly known as the fruit fly.

Outline:
Early Influences
Work in Embryology
Drosophila
Recognition and Continuing Influence

From the Paper:

"The early 20th century ushered in considerable interest in Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, and Morgan was no exception. While Morgan agreed with evolution as a given, he wanted to know more about how natural selection occurs. The future Nobel Prize winner was interested in further explanations on the role of heredity in the transmission of variations among the species."
"Morgan was also interested in the work of geneticist Georg Mendel, who studied chromosomes. In 1910, Morgan publicly disagreed with the prevailing notion in embryology, that a fully-formed adult was already locked inside the ova or sperm cell. Rather, Morgan argued that there was no single chromosome that guaranteed the heredity of specific traits (Shine and Wrobel 1976)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Allen, G. E. 2000. Thomas Hunt Morgan: The Man and His Science. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978
• Kandel, Eric. 1999. "Genes, Chromosomes, and the Origins of Modern Biology." Columbia Magazine. Fall 1999.
• Morgan, Thomas Hunt. 2002. Embryology and Genetics. New York: Agrobios.
• Shine, I. and Wrobel, S. 1976. Thomas Hunt Morgan: Pioneer of Genetics. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky

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