A Look at the Life of Geneticist Hermann J Muller - Part I

August 24, 2016 • by Nicole Elmer
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Left: Muller with his jeweler's loupe, a fly viewing practice he picked up while working in the Morgan lab. (Photo in UT Zoology Archive, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin) Right: article image from piece written by C.P. Oliver


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Muller in 1897, age 7 (Photo from the Lilly Library, Indiana University)

As a child, Muller displayed an early interest in science. It is believed he and his friends started what might have been the first high school science club in the US.

Muller would later earn his bachelors in zoology in 1910 at Columbia University but had the additional responsibility of supporting his mother and sister since his father had passed on. To help his family economically, Muller worked odd jobs while in school, serving as a runner on Wall Street and an English teacher to immigrants. While working towards his Masters in nerve physiology at Cornell, he taught physiology for a year at Cornell University Medical School and then returned to Columbia to complete his PhD.

During his graduate years at Columbia, Muller would quickly become involved in impactful work with fruit flies (Drosophila) that would forever influence his life direction. He worked in the famous "Fly Room" with geneticist Thomas Hunt Morgan, who brought Muller into his lab based on the reputation of Muller's prior work. Muller and Morgan had mismatched temperaments, with Morgan's more laissez-faire approach clashing with Muller, who did not like others getting credit for his work. 

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A lab party in Thomas Morgan's lab, 1919. Muller is seated next to Morgan, second from right in back. (Photo from the Lilly Library, Indiana University)

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The "Fly Room" in BIO. T.S. Painter sits to the left, W.S. Stone stands in the back, C.P. Oliver sits front, and Muller views flies through his jeweler's loupe. (Photo from the Lilly Library, Indiana University)

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Muller's X-ray machine currently housed in MBB

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