The animals have had an enormous impact on our understanding of both basic biology and disease, earning scientists dozens of Nobel Prizes.īut some scientists argue that biology needs a taste of Morgan’s pre-fly days, when scientists studied a panoply of organisms. These animals are easy to grow in the lab, and researchers have developed an arsenal of tools for analyzing and modifying their genomes. elegans, zebrafish, mice and a few others. The lion’s share of biological research today is centered on a select group of species - fruit flies, the roundworm C. In the decades since Morgan began breeding his flies, the model organism approach has blossomed. Scientists study model organisms with the aim of understanding biology more broadly, including issues applicable to human health. The fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has morphed into a test system to study the inner workings of biology - a model organism. Morgan became one of the most revered biologists of the 20th century, but his scientific fame would never compete with that of his subject, which has become nearly synonymous with biological research.

Morgan used fruit flies to show that chromosomes are the basis of inheritance, a discovery that set the stage for modern genetics and earned him the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.