| Thomas Hunt Morgan (3rd from right) and his associates at Columbia University. This luncheon was held in the 'Chart Room' on 2 January 1919, to celebrate the return of Alfred Henry Sturtevant (foreground with beer and cigar) from his brief stint as a soldier in World War I. Calvin Bridges (center) is feigning a chat with a museum mannequin (Homo erectus) dressed in Sturt's uniform. Clockwise from this anthropoid 'guest' are Hermann J. Muller, T.H. Morgan ('the Boss'), Frank E. Lutz, Otto L. Mohr, Alfred F. Huettner, A. H. Sturtevant, Franz Schrader, Ernest G. Anderson, Alexander Weinstein, S. C. Dellinger, and Calvin B. Bridges. Curt Stern (not shown) did not join the team until 1924. This merry band of pioneers launched a great quest for the secrets of genetics, and they had a knack for solving mysteries that rivaled Sherlock Holmes. Nevertheless, as the informality of this party indicates, these legendary heroes did not take themselves too seriously. Indeed, their lightheartedness has suffused this field ever since and is reflected in the whimsical names of many fly genes. Most of the mutations they studied affect the adult's anatomy by altering the development of the larva's imaginal discs. Those discs are the subject of this book, one of whose aims is to celebrate the triumph of the quest. This picture is from Sturt's photo album. It was provided courtesy of the Archives, California Institute of Technology.
|
