Thomas Hunt Morgan

Thomas Hunt Morgan (English: Thomas Hunt Morgan, September 25, 1866 - December 4, 1945) was an American evolutionary biologist, geneticist, embryologist, and the founder of chromosomal genetics. Morgan studied embryology at Johns Hopkins University, earning a doctorate in zoology in 1890, and engaged in embryology research while teaching at Bryn Mawr College. After Mendelian inheritance was rediscovered in 1900, Morgan began to study the genetic characteristics of Drosophila melanogaster. In the famous "Drosophila Laboratory" at Columbia University's Schermerhorn Hall, Morgan showed that genes are located on chromosomes, the physical basis of heredity. These discoveries laid the scientific foundation for modern genetics. In 1933, Morgan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for elucidating the role of chromosomes in inheritance. During his academic career, Morgan wrote 22 monographs and 370 scientific papers. Under his influence, Drosophila became the dominant model organism in modern genetics. The biology department he founded at Caltech later produced several Nobel Prize winners.