<story><title>DNA genius and double Nobel Prize winner Fred Sanger dies aged 95</title><url>http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/DNA-genius-and-double-Nobel-Prize-winner-Fred-Sanger-of-Cambridge-dies-aged-95-20131120113300.htm</url><text></text></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>arethuza</author><text>Some great stuff on his Wikipedia page:&lt;p&gt;- &amp;quot;struggled with physics and mathematics&amp;quot; :-)&lt;p&gt;- &amp;quot;He agreed to having the Centre named after him when asked by John Sulston, the founding director, but warned, &amp;#x27;It had better be good.&amp;#x27;&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;-  &amp;quot;My father was a committed Quaker and I was brought up as a Quaker, and for them truth is very important. I drifted away from those beliefs - one is obviously looking for truth but one needs some evidence for it. Even if I wanted to believe in God I would find it very difficult. I would need to see proof.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;- &amp;#x27;He declined the offer of a knighthood as he did not wish to be addressed as &amp;quot;Sir&amp;quot;&amp;#x27;&lt;p&gt;- &amp;quot;the most self-effacing person you could hope to meet&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I hope someone writes a good biography of him - I wonder if Andrew Hodges (who wrote &amp;#x27;Alan Turing: The Enigma&amp;#x27;) could be persuaded....&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Sanger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Frederick_Sanger&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>DNA genius and double Nobel Prize winner Fred Sanger dies aged 95</title><url>http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/DNA-genius-and-double-Nobel-Prize-winner-Fred-Sanger-of-Cambridge-dies-aged-95-20131120113300.htm</url><text></text></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>jballanc</author><text>The early pioneers in genetics were all consummate hackers in the truest sense. For much of the work they were doing, the had very little information about the underlying processes to go on. The were, in effect, reverse engineering life.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s also worth noting that Sanger&amp;#x27;s sequencing method, or variations on it, were still used decades later to produce the bulk of the human genome sequence. Only very recently have newer, faster, alternative methods been developed. Even so, Sanger sequencing is still used for smaller scale studies, and is simple enough that almost any modern biology lab can do it on their own (all you need is a thermocycler, some eppindorfs, a sequencing gel apparatus, some photographic film, and all the raw chemicals).</text></comment>