In 1990 the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) jointly launched the Human Genome Project, a fifteen-year program with the goal of sequencing the three billion base pairs making up the human genome. Some thought the project impossible; others predicted that it would take a half century to complete. Everyone agreed it would be expensive. A budget of $10 billion was set aside, but many felt it wasn’t enough. They might still be feeling this way too, except that in 2000 Venter decided to get into the race.
