caption death_date death_place birth_place image_size nationality article_title field work_institutions birth_date known_for doctoral_students prizes image signature name alma_mater
johns hopkins yearbook of 1891 4 december 1945 pasadena , california lexington , kentucky 200px united states thomas hunt morgan
 geneticist embryologist bryn mawr college columbia university california institute of technology 25 september 1866 drosophila melanogaster linked genes nettie calvin bridges alfred sturtevant maria stevens john howard northrop hermann joseph muller nobel copley medal -lrb- 1939 -rrb- prize in physiology or medicine -lrb- 1933 -rrb- thomas_hunt_morgan . jpg thomas hunt morgan signature.svg thomas hunt morgan university university -lrb- ph.d. -rrb- of kentucky -lrb- b.s. -rrb- , johns hopkins
thomas hunt morgan

thomas hunt morgan -lrb- september 25 , 1866 -- december 4 , 1945 -rrb- 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 .
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 's research moved to the study of mutation in the fruit fly `` drosophila melanogaster '' .
in his famous fly room at columbia university , 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 .
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 .
