Table 1.1 Continued Date Microbiological History Other Historical Events 1979 cine (h s to power (1991 Water found on themo() c8 r一 ek.Leeu he mi ng an ne the lensPrescott−Harley−Klein: Microbiology, Fifth Edition I. Introduction to Microbiology 1. The History and Scope of Microbiology © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2002 1.2 The Conflict over Spontaneous Generation 5 Table 1.1 Continued Date Microbiological History Other Historical Events Gilbert and Sanger develop techniques for DNA sequencing 1979 Insulin synthesized using recombinant DNA techniques Hostages seized in Iran (1978) Smallpox declared officially eliminated Three Mile Island disaster (1979) 1980 Development of the scanning tunneling microscope Home computers marketed (1980) 1982 Recombinant hepatitis B vaccine developed AIDS first recognized (1981) 1982–1983 Discovery of catalytic RNA by Cech and Altman First artificial heart implanted (1982) 1983–1984 The human immunodeficiency virus isolated and identified Meter redefined in terms of distance light travels (1983) by Gallo and Montagnier The polymerase chain reaction developed by Mullis 1986 First vaccine (hepatitis B vaccine) produced by genetic Gorbachev becomes Communist party general secretary (1985) engineering approved for human use Berlin Wall falls (1989) 1990 First human gene-therapy testing begun Persian Gulf War with Iraq begins (1990) Soviet Union collapse; Boris Yeltsin comes to power (1991) 1992 First human trials of antisense therapy 1995 Chickenpox vaccine approved for U.S. use Haemophilus influenzae genome sequenced 1996 Methanococcus jannaschii genome sequenced Water found on the moon (1998) Yeast genome sequenced 1997 Discovery of Thiomargarita namibiensis, the largest known bacterium Escherichia coli genome sequenced 2000 Discovery that Vibrio cholerae has two separate chromosomes Figure 1.1 Antony van Leeuwenhoek. Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723) and his microscopes. (a) Leeuwenhoek holding a microscope. (b) A drawing of one of the microscopes showing the lens, a; mounting pin, b; and focusing screws, c and d. (c) Leeuwenhoek’s drawings of bacteria from the human mouth. (b) Source: C. E. Dobell, Antony van Leeuwenhoek and His Little Animals (1932), Russell and Russell, 1958. d d c c b b a a (a) (b) (c)