Completion of the Human Genome Project

Date

14 April 2003

Category

Science, technology & invention

Region

Global

Era

Contemporary

Significance

On 14 April 2003 the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium announced the essentially complete sequence of the human genome, more than two years ahead of schedule.

Launched in 1990 as a publicly funded collaboration spanning the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and China, the project mapped roughly three billion DNA base pairs, covering about 99 percent of the genome's gene-containing regions at 99.99 percent accuracy. A parallel private effort by Celera Genomics had spurred the work, and a joint 'working draft' had been published in 2001. The finished reference sequence gave researchers a foundational catalogue of human genes and laid the groundwork for genomics-driven medicine, including the study of genetic diseases, pharmacogenomics, ancestry research and cancer biology. It also drove the development of dramatically cheaper and faster DNA-sequencing technologies, reducing the cost of sequencing an individual genome from billions of dollars to, within two decades, a few hundred. The project is widely regarded as one of the great scientific undertakings of the modern era.

Related science, technology & invention events

• Release of ChatGPT and the rise of generative AI
  30 November 2022
• Global eradication of smallpox declared
  8 May 1980 (last natural case 1977)
• HAART Turns The Tide On AIDS
  1996
• The collapse in solar and wind costs and the energy transition
  2010s-2020s
• CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing
  June 2012
• First direct detection of gravitational waves
  14 September 2015 (announced 11 February 2016)

Further reading

A Little History of Science

The wider story

A Little History of Science

William Bynum

Warm, jargon-free tour of discovery from Babylonian stargazers to the genome.

Get it on Amazon →

As an Amazon Associate, Human Saga earns from qualifying purchases.