Werner Arber, a physicist at the University of Geneva, made a discovery that revolutionized the field of molecular genetics.

In the 60s, the University of Geneva was Europe’s pioneer in the emerging field of molecular biology and was the only Swiss University in possession of an electron microscope. Arber used this instrument to study viruses that attack bacteria and ended up making a fascinating discovery; he saw that some bacteria produce special enzymes that cut the DNA of viruses into small pieces in order to defend themselves against the viruses’ onslaught.

This paved the way for researchers who learned how to use these enzymes, as “scissors” to snip molecular DNA at will. These restriction enzymes have become a fundamental tool in molecular biology and have facilitated the sequencing of the human genome. Werner Arber was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1978.