Box 2. The people

The birth of neurogenetics in the Benzer laboratory at Caltech.
a, Benzer laboratory at Caltech, November 1971. Front row (left to right): O. Siddiqi; research technicians, Y.-H. Jing and J.-Y. Yu; M. Deniro; R. Konopka; D. Kankel; and laboratory manager, E. Eichenberger. Back row (left to right): T. Hanson, D. Edgington, Y. Hotta, J. Lewis, P. Christensen and W. Quinn. b, Benzer laboratory at Caltech, around 1972. Front row (left to right): W. Quinn, D. Edgington, J. Hall, S. Benzer. Back row (left to right): W. Harris, D. Kankel and research technicians, J. Gorn and B. Butler. Photos courtesy of S. Benzer, Caltech.

Career paths of selected Benzer laboratory members (interested readers can learn more about the history of neurogenetics and the Benzer laboratory by consulting J. Weiner's celebrated book⁶⁵):

 Seymour Benzer: still active and scientifically prolific at the age of 86 as the James Griffin Boswell Professor of Neuroscience, Emeritus (active) at Caltech. In recent years, his group has studied longevity, brain degeneration, fear, and feeding behaviours in Drosophila.

 Jeffrey Hall: Professor at Brandeis University, who was inducted into the US National Academy of Sciences in 2003 for his comprehensive work on the neurogenetics of circadian, courtship and social behaviours in Drosophila.

 William Harris: fellow of the Royal Society and Head of the Neuroscience Department at the University of Cambridge, UK, with a group working on the molecular embryogenesis of the vertebrate visual system.

 Yoshiki Hotta: Director of the National Institute of Genetics in Japan, Hotta went on to a prominent career in Drosophila neural development.

 Douglas Kankel: Professor at Yale University investigating the neurogenetics of visual and nervous system development in Drosophila.

 Ronald Konopka: Continued to work on biological clocks at Clarkson University before retiring from science.

 William Quinn: Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology has continued his seminal work on learning and memory in Drosophila.

 Obaid Siddiqi: founding Director of the TIFR National Centre for Biological Sciences at Bangalore and inducted in 2003 as a foreign member of the US National Academy of Sciences, Siddiqi pioneered the field of behaviour genetics of Drosophila olfaction after leaving the Benzer laboratory.