50 years ago, scientists sequenced a gene for the first time

Molecular biology’s flower child — Science News, January 6, 1973       
During the past several years, some artificial genes have been synthesized…. But no one had unraveled a real gene that dictates the production of a protein. Now researchers … have done just that…. There is little doubt that sequencing of genes holds powerful ramifications for the advance of medical science.    

Update

A new era of genetics research dawned when scientists reported that they had deciphered the building blocks of a gene belonging to a virus. (The gene itself looks…