Hermann Joseph Müller

Unfortunately, his father died when he was nine years old. After graduating from elementary school, Mueller joined Morris High School and organized New York City¡¯s first high school science club, graduating in 1907 with excellent results. In the same year, he enrolled in Columbia University and received a scholarship. At second grade, he had developed a strong interest in genetics by reading H.R. Lock¡¯s Genetics, Variation and Evolution.

Mueller was one of the most influential geneticists of the 20th century and published 372 papers during his lifetime, the most important of which was Genetic Induction (1927). He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a member of the Royal Society of the United States, and director of the Department of Genetic Biology at the Fourth Science Division in Washington, D.C. He served as chairman of several Genetic Societies and Congresses, and was awarded the honorary title of Professor of Excellence at the University of Indiana. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1946 for his significant contributions to the study of radiation genetics, and he was the second geneticist to receive the Nobel Prize after Morgan (1933).

Mueller's scientific and academic contributions mainly to radiation genetics and evolutionary theory, in particular his research on radiation genetics, have opened up new fields for experimental genetics.

There is no doubt that Mueller was a scientific master of the last century, an intellectual progressive, compassionate, and righteous, worthy of eternal respect and remembrance.