Edward Tatum
US genetics scientist (1909-1975) · United States · Doctors · Died at 65
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A typical day, 30 days to 17 September 2026
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Something wrong?Edward Tatum proved that genes aren't just abstract units of inheritance - they're molecular instructions for specific chemical reactions inside cells, a clarification that reoriented the entire field of genetics.
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Born December 14, 1909, Tatum trained as a biochemist before teaming with George Beadle to irradiate bread mold and track what broke. Their experiments in the 1940s showed that each mutated gene knocked out a single metabolic step, establishing the one gene-one enzyme principle that made genetics legible as chemistry. The work earned them half the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; Joshua Lederberg took the other half. Tatum went on to election in the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He died November 5, 1975, his career a hinge between classical genetics and the molecular revolution that followed.
Doctors from the United States 6
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