journal
of science education
Article-in-a-Box
Jacques Monod (1910-1976)
S Mahadevan
This year, we are celebrating the Golden Jubilee of the discovery of
the double-helical structure of DNA by Watson and Crick in 1953. Its impact
on biology was so strong that the following years witnessed a flood of
path-breaking discoveries on several fundamental aspects of the gene and
how it functions. Among them, one of the most significant is that of Jacques
Monod, who, along with Francois Jacob, outlined how genes can be regulated.
The ‘operon model’ proposed by Jacob and Monod in 1961 to describe
how the bacterium Escherichia coli. breaks down the milk sugar lactose,
is a paradigm for gene regulation in all organisms. Monod’s contribution
to biology however goes beyond the proposal of the operon model. He symbolized
creativity, elegance and parsimony in scientific thinking. To fully appreciate
the impact of his research contributions, it is important to look at the
life and times of this great biologist.
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