Milestones of research

The Dutch naturalist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek is one of the first people to observe bacteria, which he sees with a self-constructed microscope

The French scientist Louis Pasteur discovers that fermentation is caused by the activity of microorganisms. He also realizes that such microorganisms can be used to produce lactic acid, acetic acid, and alcohol

The biochemist Friedrich Miescher from Basel discovers a substance in the nuclei of white blood cells that would later be called DNA. His work lays the foundation for modern biology

The chemist Chaim Weizmann, who would later become the first president of Israel, uses fermentation processes to make acetone and butanol

Alexander Fleming, a Scottish physician and bacteriologist, discovers penicillin. This antibiotic is produced from molds

The decoding of the double helix structure of DNA by the zoologist James Watson (left) and the physicist Francis Crick marks the birth of molecular biology. The two scientists draw on the research results of Maurice Wilkins and his colleague Rosalind Franklin. Their work paves the way for gene-based biotechnology. In 1962 Watson and Crick receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The British biochemist Frederick Sanger develops DNA sequencing in order to determine the sequence of bases in a strand of DNA. In recognition of this achievement, he receives his second Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Insulin is the first biotechnologically produced medication to receive market approval. Prior to this, insulin was extracted from the pancreases of slaughtered pigs or cattle

The US biochemist Kary B. Mullis develops the polymerase chain reaction, or PCR for short, which revolutionizes the process of copying DNA in laboratories

At the California Institute of Technology, the US chemist Lloyd M. Smith develops the first automated DNA sequencer. The startup Applied Biosystems launches the device on the market, where it bears the model designation ABI Prism 370A. It eliminates the need to use radioactivity for sequencing, which was previously the case

Dolly, the cloned sheep, was born on July 5. Scottish researchers had cloned her by transferring genetic material from an udder cell into an egg cell with the nucleus removed and implanting the egg cell into a surrogate mother ewe. The experiment triggered a worldwide debate about the ethical boundaries of biotechnology

The molecular biologists Emmanuelle Charpentier from France (left) and Jennifer Doudna from the USA develop the CRISPR-Cas9 technique for the quick and precise editing of DNA. This gene editing tool works in all living cells and organisms and ushers in a new era of genetic engineering. For their work, they receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020

Artificial intelligence is used to calculate protein folding and thereby accelerate the development of medications