George Beadle was a towering scientific figure whose work from the 1930s to 1960 marked the transition from classical genetics to the molecular era. Among other distinctions, he made the pivotal, Nobel Prize?winning discovery with Edward Tatum that the role of genes is to specify proteins. From 1946 to 1960 he led the Caltech Biology Division, rebuilding it to a powerhouse in molecular biology, and afterwards became a successful President of the University of Chicago. This is the first biography of a giant of genetics, written by two of the field's most distinguished contributors, Paul Berg and Maxine Singer.

Introduction Chapter 1. An Uncommon Farmer Chapter 2. Agricultural College at Lincoln Chapter 3. Genetics at the Quarter Century Chapter 4. The Corn Cooperation Chapter 5. The Fly Group Chapter 6. From Corn to Flies Chapter 7. Three?eyed Flies Chapter 8. Becoming a Professor Chapter 9. From Flies to Molds Chapter 10. One Gene?One Protein Chapter 11. Confronting the Skeptics Chapter 12. In Morgan's Footsteps Chapter 13. Postwar Science and Politics Chapter 14. Genetics and the Nuclear Age Chapter 15. Oxford and the Nobel Prize Chapter 16. Becoming a University President Chapter 17. Restoring a University?s Eminence Chapter 18. The Corn Wars Epilogue