Famous Scientists & Their Contributions

1. Reginald C Punnett- 11. James Watson and Francis Crick-

British Geneticist, Developed Punnett Gave double helix model for the structure
square. of DNA.

2. G. mendel- 12. Francis Crick-

Worked on pea plant and gave laws of Proposed Central Dogma
Inheritance
13. Erwin Chargaff-
3. de Vreis , Correns,von Tschermark- gave the proposition that purines =
Rediscovered Mendels result. pyrimidnes (A=T, G=C) A+G/T+C=1

4. Sutton and Bovery- 14. Freidrick Griffith-

gave Chromosomal theory of Inheritance Experiment of transforming principle.

5. Morgan- 15. Oswald Avery, Colin Mac Leod and Maclyn

Experimental verification of Chromosomal Carty-
theory of Inheritance. Biochemical Characterisation of
transforming principle.
6. Alfred Sturtevent-
Student of Morgan- Used Frequency of 16. Hershey and Chase-
recombination between gene pairs on same Unequivocally proved that DNA is the
chromosome as a measure of the distance genetic material (E.coli and Bacteriophage)
between genes and mapped their position
on chromosome. 17. George Gammow-
Physicist,Suggested that in order to code for
7. Henking- all 20 amino acids ,the code should be
Traced a specific nuclear structure all madeup of three nucleotides.
through spermatogenesis in a few insects
and observed that 50% of sperms received 18. Har Gobind Khorana-
this structure. Synthesized RNA molecules with defined
combinations of bases (homopolymers and
8. Langdon Down- co-polymers).
Down’s syndrome was first discovered in
1981.
1866 19. Marshall Nirenberg-
Provided cell free system for protein
9. Friedrich Meischer- synthesis.
Identified DNA as an acidic material
present in nucleus and called it Nuclein. 20. Severo Ochoa-
Discovered the polynucleotide
10. Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin- phosphorylase enzyme. Helped in
gave X-ray diffraction data for DNA polymerizing RNA in a template
structure. independent manner in cell free system.
 Famous Scientists & Their Contributions
21. Taylor and Collegues-
Worked on Vicia faba using radioactive
thymidine and proved semicionservative
nature of DNA replication.
22. Francois Jacob (Geneticist) and J Monad
(Biochemist) –
Elucidated lac operon.
23. Frederick Sanger-
Developed methods for determination of
amino acid sequence in proteins and also
Method for DNA sequencing.
24. Dr Lalji Singh-
Started DNA sequencing in India at
CCMB(Centre for Cell and Molecular
Biology)
25. Alec Jeffery-
Technique of DNA Fingerprinting.
26. Stanley Miller-
American scientist Created conditions
similar to primitive earth. Created electric
discharge in a closed flask containing
methane, ammonia water vapour and
hydrogen at 800oC. Got amino acids as a
result.
27. Oparin (Russia) and Haldane(England)-
proposed “ Chemical Evolution” . First
form of life could have came from pre-
existing non-living organis molecules.
28. Louis Pasteur-
Life came from pre-existing life.
29. Charles Darwin-
Gave the theory of Survival of the Fittest
and Natural Selection.
30. Alfred Wallace-
Naturalist, Studied malay Archipelago and
supported the theory of natural selection.
31. Ernst Haeckel-
Embryological support for evolution.
Observed certain features during
embryonic stage common to all vertebrates
that were absent in adults.
32. Karl Ernst von Baer-
Adult never pass through adult stages of
other animals.
33. Thomas Malthas-
Worked on Population studies.
34. Hugo de Vreis-
Worked on evening Primroseand brought
forth the idea of mutation.
35. Hardy Weinberg-
Gave the Hardy Weinberg Principlewhich
says that allele frequencies in a population
are stable and is constant from generation
to generation . Gene pool and their alleles
in a population remains constant.
p + q = 1 and p2 +2pq + q2 = 1
36. Norman Borlaug-
Developed semidwarf wheat at
International Centre for Wheat and Maize.
37. Verghese Kurien-
Father of “White Revolution in India”
38. Alexander Flemming-
Discovered Penicillin
39. Ernst Chain and Florey-
established the full potential of of
penicillin as an antibiotic.
 Famous Scientists & Their Contributions
40. Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer-
Constructed frist recombinant DNA in
1972.
41. Nathan, Arber and Smith –
Got Nobel Prize for discovery of Restriction
enzyme.
42. Kary Mullis-
Demonstrated the PCR process.
43. Allen-
Gave Allen’s rule which states that people
from colder region have smaller ears and
legs to reduce heat loss.
44. Gause-
Gave Gause’s Competetive Exclusion
Principle” which states that no two closely
related species competing for same
resources cannot exist indefinitely and the
competetively inferior one will be
leminated eventually.
45. Mac Arthur-
Supported Co-existance principle for
closely related species competing for
similar resources. Five species of Warblers
on a tree.
46. Robert Constanza and Collegues-
Put price tags on natures life support
services
47. Connel-
Worked on Competetive release in Field
experiment with Barnacles
48. Robert May-
Placed global species diversity at about 7
million.
49. Edward Wilson-
Sociobiologist, Popularized the term
Biodiversity
50. M.S. Swaminathan-
Father of Green Revolution in India.
51. Alexander von Humboldt-
geographer, gave law of Area Species
Relationship.
52. David Tilman-
Showed from his experiments that
increased diversity contributed to higher
productivity.
53. Paul Ehlrich-
Ecologist from Stanford, gave Rivet Popper
hypothesis. Ecosystem was compared
toairplane and species to its rivets.
54. E. Haeckel –
German Zoologist, Coined and defined the
term Ecology
55. Lindmann-
10% energy transfer Law.
56. Reiter-
First used the term ecology
57. Odum-
Father of Modern Ecology
58. Ramdeo Mishra-
Father of Ecology in India.
59. Aristotle-
Proposed Two Kingdom Classification
(Plantae and Animalia)
60. R.H Whittaker (1969)-
Proposed Five kingdom Classification
(Monera, protista, Fungi, Plantae, Animalia)
61. Dmitri Ivanowsky (1892)-
Recognised certain microbes as causal agent
of tobacco mosaic disease.
 Famous Scientists & Their Contributions
62. M.W. Beijerinek(1898) –
Demonstrated that infected plant extract
can cause disease in healthy plants. Called
fluid “ Contagium Vivum Fluidum)
63. W.M. Stanley (1935)-
Viruses could be crystallized and crystals
are largely of proteins.
64. T.O. Diener (1971)-
discovered Viroids
65. Carolus Linnaeus-
Artificial classification system, Systema
Naturae Book and Binomial nomenclature
66. George Benthem and J.D Hooker
Natural System of Classification
67. Ernst Mayr-
“Darwin of the 20th Century”
68. G.N Ramachandran-
proposed Ramachandran plot for studying
the conformation of protein
69. AntonVon Leeuwenhoek
first saw and described live cells.
70. Robert Brown (1831) –
Discovered nucleus
71. Flemming-
Stained the nucleus material with basic
dyes and gave the name chromatin.
72. Matthias Schleiden (1838) ,
German Botanist studied various plant cells
73. Theodore Schwann (1839),
British Zoologist- Studied various animal
cells and proposed the present of outer
layer i.e Plasma membrane
74. Rudolf Virchow (1855)-
Explained that cells divide and new cells
are formed from pre existing cells (Omnis
cellula-e-cellula)
75. Camillo Golgi (1898) –
First observed Golgi bodies
76. George Palade (1953)-
First observed Ribosomes under electron
microscope
77. Julius von Sachs(1860)-
German Botanist- Demonstrated that plants
can be grown to maturity in a defined
nutrient solution in complete absence of
soil.(Hydroponics)
78. Joseph Priestley (1770)-
discovered Oxygen and by his experiments
revealed the essential role of air in growth
of green plants.(Belljar experiment) 1733-
1804.
79. Julius von Sachs (1854)-
Provided evidence of production of glucose
when plants grow.
80. T.W. Engelmann-
Described the first action spectrum of
photosynthesis and importance of blue and
red light in photosynthesis. 1730-1799.
81. Cornelius van Neil-
Demonstrated that in photosynthesis
hydrogen from a suitable oxidizable
compound reduces carbondioxide to
carbohydrates. 1897- 1985.
82. Melvin Calvin-
demonstrated Calvin cycle in C3 plants
(first product 3-Phosphoglyceric acid)
 Famous Scientists & Their Contributions
83. Hatch and Slack-
C4 pathway

84. Blackman (1905)-

Proposed Law of Limiting Factor

85. G. Embden, Otto Meyerhof and J Parnas-

Proposed scheme of glycolysis.

86. Charles Darwin and Francis Darwin-

Discovered Auxin while working on
phototropism of Canary grass

87. F.W. Went-

isolated Auxin from coleoptiles of oats
seedlings.

88. E. Kurosawa (1926)-

Observed that the sterile filtrates of fungus
Gibberella fujikuroi caused disease
symptoms in rice seedlings.

89. F.Skoog and co-workers-

Showed that internode segments of tobacco
stems the callus differentiated only when
supplied with auxin + extracts like yeast
extract or coconut milk.

90. Miller et al (1955)-

identified and crystallized the cytokinesis
promoting substances which was named
Kinetin.

91. H.H Cousins (1910)-

Confirmed release of a volatile substance
from ripened oranges that hastened the
ripening of stored unripened bananas.