Timeline | comparative-genomics

In 1859, Charles Darwin publishes “The Origin of Species”
In 1866, Gregor Mendel published “Experiments on Plant Hybridization”.
In 1869, Johann Friedrich Miescher extracts what will later be known as DNA from the nuclei of white blood cells.
In 1882, Walter Flemming discovers the chromatin.
In 1941, Alfred H. Sturtevant demonstrates that X-ray can prompt mutations and John Desmond Bernal uses X-ray crystallography to illuminate the structures of proteins.
In 1953, Erwin Chargaff discovers frequency of proportions in DNA bases for different species and Francis H. C. Crick and James D. Watson discover that the chemical structure of DNA meets the unique criteria for a substance that encodes genetic information.
In 1953, Francis H. C. Crick and James D. Watson discover the Double Helix
In 1991, Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger construct techniques for sequencing DNA. The effort to sequence the human genome is launched. J. Craig Venter invents a quick, innovative approach to gene discovery using Expressed Sequenced Tags
In 2004, Haemophilus Influenzae, a free living organism, is sequenced. The yeast genome, the Drosophila genome, the human genome, and the mouse genome is sequenced and assembled.

What Makes us Human? (Compare to other primates)

In 1703, Julien Offray de la Mettrie, he argued that there is no absolute sharp difference between man and animal and that it is impossible for an orangutan to speak.
In 1892, Garner publishes The Speech of Monkeys. He is convinced that monkeys communicate through vocalizations and his field trip is one of the first studies of free ranging primates.
In 1913, Max Rothmann suggests teaching gestural language to chimpanzees to avoid the limitations imposed by the fact that they are not able to make the same sounds as in human language. This approach was to be followed by several scientists for the rest of the century.
In 1916, William Furness III taught a female orangutan to say ‘papa’, ‘cup’ and ‘th’. It is one of the earliest accounts of an attempt to speak with an ape.
In 1925, Robert Yerkes, pioneer in research in animal intelligence, suggests in the book Almost Human that apes might be able to learn sign language.
In 1966, Beatrix and Allen Gardner start to teach the chimpanzee Washoe sign language and at 1969, The Gardners report in Science that Washoe learned to use 85 signs close to those of American Sign Language.
In 2013, Scientists discover that other animals have been found whispering, but no other primate except humans discovered how to do so in lowering their voice.