The Nobel Prize, however, is not given to the dead. Or to the unlucky. As it happened, Maurice Wilkins was the third honoree. The Nobel committee credited him with Franklin's stellar DNA work as well as his own. The genetic code is cracked.
Scientists can now begin to read the blueprints of all organisms.
1972-73 Scientists begin splicing pieces of DNA together, forming genes called recombinant molecules and launching the biotechnology revolution. Human genes can now be spliced into bacteria, which churn out human proteins. 1977 Frederick Sanger reveals for the first time the complete genetic information of a micro-organism, paving the way for the human genome project, expected to map all human genes by 2003. Researchers create the first transgenic animal, inserting a viral gene into the DNA of a mouse. Such creatures, carrying human genes, serve as models for studying human diseases.