Dr. J. Craig Venter, Institute of Genetic Research, formerly President of Celera Corporation, which two years ago completed the full description of the human genome, delivered two outstanding lectures on The Penn State campus, describing the development of that subject and its significance.

This truly remarkable achievement was the direct result of advances in analytical methodology and computer analysis of the data. It probably escaped general notice that Darwinian concepts played no role in this accomplishment. Earlier methodologies might have reached the same conclusion after 100 years of full-scale effort. He posited that with anticipated improvements, within 5 years, a new-born would leave the hospital with a complete copy of his/her genome.

In describing the significance of this information he deflated numerous hype-balloons about the marvelous cures we have been promised for our ailments, the level of understanding of our relation to one another, to all other living organisms, and how living organisms arrived at their present biological organization.

No two persons have the same genome, we have some of the same genes as fruit flies and more primitive organisms, but we have barely scratched the surface of understanding ourselves as the product of our genomes. Reading a genome does not tell us any detail about how we, or any other organism, developed and functions. We know even less about how or why living organisms changed over the billions of years of biological history. For the present this is still largely a mystery.

Nonetheless, we have good reason to be grateful for the dedicated efforts of the numerous scientists who have contributed to a development that was beyond imagining 25 years ago.