Thomas Hunt Morgan

Thomas Hunt Morgan ForMemRS
Morgan in 1891
Born	(1866-09-25)September 25, 1866 Lexington, Kentucky, US
Died	December 4, 1945(1945-12-04) (aged 79) Pasadena, California, US
Alma mater	University of Kentucky (B.S.) Johns Hopkins University (Ph.D.)
Known for	Establishing Drosophila melanogaster as a major model organism in genetics Linked genes
Awards	Member of the National Academy of Sciences (1909)[1] Foreign Member of the Royal Society (1919)[2] Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1933) Copley Medal (1939)
Scientific career
Fields	Genetics Embryology
Institutions	Bryn Mawr College Columbia University California Institute of Technology Marine Biological Laboratory
Doctoral students	Nettie Maria Stevens John Howard Northrop Hermann Joseph Muller Calvin Bridges Alfred Sturtevant Chester Ittner Bliss Tan Jiazhen
Signature

Thomas Hunt Morgan (September 25, 1866 – December 4, 1945)^[2] was an American evolutionary biologist, geneticist, embryologist, and science author who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for discoveries elucidating the role that the chromosome plays in heredity.^[3]

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.^[2] 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.