UK Celebrates Thomas Hunt Morgan's 150th Birthday With Month of Events

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 26, 2016) — Now through the month of October, the University of Kentucky Department of Biology is hosting "A Month of T.H. Morgan" to celebrate its most famous alumnus.

The monthlong series of events kicked off yesterday, Sept. 25 (the Nobel Prize winner’s 150th birthday), with a screening of "The Fly Room," a film based on Morgan’s research lab. Another screening will be held tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Kentucky Theater.

"'A Month of T.H. Morgan' is an event series this fall to spread the word about Thomas Hunt Morgan’s life and scientific legacy and to explore the current frontiers in genetics, evolutionary biology, regeneration and genomics," said Vincent Cassone, chair of UK Biology. "It is an exciting time to be a biologist. Our past is eminent, and our future is bright. We hope you all will join us; we’ll show you something very cool."

Born in Lexington in 1866, Morgan received his bachelor's degree (1886) and master's degree (1888) from the State College of Kentucky (now the University of Kentucky). He then received a doctoral degree in biology from the Johns Hopkins University. Originally interested in development, regeneration and embryology, Morgan is most famous for his discovery of sex-linked inheritance and the identity of the chromosome as the location for our genes. He and his students at Columbia University and then the California Institute of Technology went on to discover many details of inheritance, establishing the fruit fly as the premier model organism for the study of modern genetics. He received the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine for this line of research in 1933. 

Over the next four weeks, UK Biology will host many outreach events and activities, including BioBonanza, an all-ages open house, on Saturday, Oct. 1 in the new Don & Cathy Jacobs Science Building. A calendar listing of all the events is available at https://bio.as.uky.edu/month-th-morgan

UK is the University for Kentucky. At UK, we are educating more students, treating more patients with complex illnesses and conducting more research and service than at any time in our 150-year history. To read more about the UK story and how you can support continued investment in your university and the Commonwealth, visit uky.edu/uk4ky. #uk4ky #seeblue

MEDIA CONTACT: Jenny Wells, 859-257-5343; jenny.wells@uky.edu