🧬 ×2ⁿ 1983
Process for Amplifying Nucleic Acid Sequences
U.S. Patent 4,683,202 · 1987
From the abstract
A process is provided for amplifying any desired specific nucleic acid sequence contained in a nucleic acid or mixture thereof. The process comprises treating separate complementary strands of the nucleic acid with a molar excess of two oligonucleotide primers, and extending the primers...
Note
PCR — the technique that made forensic DNA, prenatal genetic testing, and the COVID-19 PCR test possible. Mullis said he conceived the entire method on a Friday-night drive up California Highway 128 in 1983, while his girlfriend slept in the passenger seat. He had to pull over to write down the doubling math. PCR copies a target DNA sequence one billion-fold in a few hours; before it, sequencing required laboriously cloning DNA in bacteria. Mullis won the 1993 Nobel and spent the rest of his life championing scientifically marginal positions (HIV/AIDS denial, astrology). The technique stands regardless.