Between 1905 and 1925, the Fly Room at Columbia was the epicenter of genetics, a catalytic chamber for the new science. Ideas ricocheted off ideas, like atoms splitting atoms. The chain reaction of discoveries—linkage, crossing over, the linearity of genetic maps, the distance between genes—burst forth with such ferocity that it seemed, at times, that genetics was not born but zippered into existence. Over the next decades, a spray of Nobel Prizes would be showered on the occupants of the room: Morgan, his students, his student’s students, and even their students would all win the prize for
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