Thomas Hunt Morgan 托马斯·亨特·摩尔根

Thomas Hunt Morgan

托马斯·亨特·摩尔根

Morgan was born in Lexington, Kentucky, on September 25, 1866, His uncle was a famous general of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, so the Morgans were also respected by their neighbors. In his family, there were rich businessmen, soldiers, diplomats, and lawyers, but no scientists. To borrow current genetic terminology, Thomas Hunt Morgan can be regarded as a "mutation" product in the family.

摩根于1866年9月25日出生于肯塔基州的列克星敦，他的叔叔是美国南北战争时期南方邦联军的著名将军，因此原因摩根一家也受到了不少周围邻居的尊敬。 他的家族里有富商，有军人，有外交官甚至有律师，但就是没有科学家。 借用现在的基因学术语，摩根可以算是家族中的“变异”产物了。

He has done many interesting experiments in his life, but many of them ended in failure. Sometimes Morgan quipped that his experiments could be divided into three categories: the first category was stupid experiments, the second category was extremely stupid experiments, and there was a category that was more stupid than the second category. Although he failed repeatedly, but he never give up, because he knew that as long as there was a meaningful experiment in scientific research, all his efforts would be rewarded.

他这一生中做过许多有趣的实验，但大多数实验均以失败告终，摩根曾打趣地说道自己这一生做过的实验可以大致分为三类，第一类叫做愚蠢的实验，第二类叫做极其愚蠢的实验，第三类则叫做比第二类还要愚蠢的实验。尽管他不断经历失败，但是他从来都没有放弃实验，因为他知道在他的不断进行的实验中，但凡有一个成功了那么他的一切付出都是有意义的！

After Mendel's genetic research was rediscovered in 1900, new information about genetics was constantly spread to Morgan's ears. Morgan doubted Mendel's theory and chromosome theory. He raised a very sharp question: the sex of living things must be controlled by genes. So, is the gene that determines sex dominant or recessive? Morgan, who loved science, began to experiment because of this suspicion. In his experiment, he chose drosophila (highly fertile) as the experimental object.

1900年，在孟德尔的基因研究被人们重新调查研究后，新发掘出来的信息不断的传到了摩根的耳朵里。摩根对于孟德尔的理论提出了质疑，他提出了一个一针见血的问题：如果生物的性别都是被基因所决定的话，那么决定性别的基因究竟是算作隐形基因还是显性基因呢？作为一个狂热的生物学家，因为这个疑问开始做起了研究。在他的实验中，他选择了果蝇作为他的实验对象。

The drosophila flies in the experiment were tortured by Morgan. They were irradiated by X-ray, laser, sugar, salt, acid and alkali at different temperatures, and even prevented from sleeping. Various methods have been used to induce mutation in Drosophila melanogaster. But two years later, this batch of fruit flies did not produce the results he wanted. One day Morgan found an abnormal white eyed male fruit fly among the red eyed fruit flies. He had never seen such a fruit fly before, so this one was a rare mutant. He was very excited. He took the mutant white eyed male fruit fly home and took good care of it. Finally, he got the white eyed fruit fly from the second generation of hybrid fruit fly. The offspring of this family are all red eyed. Obviously, red is dominant to white, which is exactly the result of Mendel's experiment. Morgan was surprised unconsciously. He made his offspring mate again, and found that the proportion of red and white fruit flies in the second generation was exactly 3:1, which was also Mendel's research result, so Morgan admired Mendel even more. Morgan decided to follow this clue and see how animals inherit. He further observed and found that the second generation of Drosophila melanogaster were all female, which indicated that the sex (male) factors of the trait (white) were linked together. When the cell division, the chromosome first changed from one to two, indicating that the trait could be inherited. The sex gene was on the chromosome, and it was passed down from generation to generation through cell division.

实验中的果蝇被摩根不断折磨。他们被不同温度的X光、激光、糖、盐、酸和碱照射，甚至阻止他们睡觉。尽力使用各种方法在黑腹果蝇中诱导突变。但是两年时间的过去了，这批果蝇并没有得出他想要的结果。有一天，摩根在红眼果蝇中发现了一只异常的白眼雄性果蝇。他以前从来没有见过这种果蝇，所以他认为这只果蝇是一种罕见的变异种。得出这一结论的他十分激动。他将变异的白眼雄果蝇带回家悉心照料起来。最后他从第二代杂交果蝇中得到了白眼果蝇。这个家族的后代每一只都是红眼。显然红色对与白色来说是显性，这正是孟德尔实验的结果。摩根暗惊。后来他又让这一批果蝇与自己的后代交配，发现第二代红白果蝇的比例正好是3:1，这也是孟德尔的研究成果，摩根因此更加佩服孟德尔。摩根决定顺着这条线索，探索动物是如何遗传的。他进一步观察发现，黑腹果蝇的第二代均为雌性，这表明性状（白色）的性别（雄性）因素是联系在一起的。细胞分裂时，染色体首先由一条变为两条，表明性状可以遗传。性基因在染色体上，最后通过细胞分裂代代相传。

Chromosomes are the carriers of genes. Morgan and his students also calculated the positions on chromosomes of various genes, and drew the position map of genes arranged on four pairs of chromosomes of Drosophila. Gene theory was born, and the mystery of male and female gender was finally revealed. Since then, genetics has ended the era of fantasy. Major discoveries have followed, and it has become the most active research field in the 20th century. For this reason, Morgan won the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. "Linkage and exchange law" is Morgan's great contribution in the field of genetics. Together with Mendel's separation law and free combination law, it is called the three laws of genetics.

通过这一实验染色体被认定为是基因的载体，摩根和他的学生还计算出来的染色体在基因上的位置。并且成功绘制出了果蝇四对染色体上基因排列的位置图。基因论也就此诞生，男女性别的谜题终于被解开了。从那以后遗传学终于结束了天方夜谭的时代。相关的重大发现也随之而来，而这一领域也成为了20世纪最活跃的研究领域。也因为这一成就，摩根获得了1993年的诺贝尔生理学和医学奖。“连锁与交换法”是摩根在这一领域的重大贡献并且与孟德尔分离定律、自由组合定律并称为遗传学三大定律。

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