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Rank 182Up 2
#18 in Scientific Discoveries
of 20 ranked entries
CRISPR Gene Editing
Jennifer Doudna & Emmanuelle Charpentier · 2012
Doudna and Charpentier adapted a bacterial immune defence into a programmable gene-editing tool precise enough to target a single DNA letter, work that earned them the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry — the first won by an all-female team. A bitter, still-unresolved patent dispute with the Broad Institute has shadowed the discovery’s commercial rollout. Recorded specifics: year 2012, discipline Genetics, country USA / Germany. Panel highlighted first gene-editing tool cheap and precise enough for widespread academic and clinical use, already delivered an approved therapy for sickle cell disease within a decade of discovery and won the Nobel Prize within eight years, among the fastest recognitions in the prize’s history. The reservation on record is a prolonged patent dispute over foundational credit remains legally unresolved and germline editing applications raise ethical questions the science itself cannot settle.
Genetics
Score breakdown
How CRISPR Gene Editing earned 73.8
Each criterion is scored independently, then combined using the weights published on Scientific Discoveries.
- Explanatory powerweight 30%
- 76.4
- Reproducibility & evidenceweight 25%
- 71.4
- Downstream impactweight 25%
- 72.8
- Paradigm-shifting influenceweight 20%
- 74.3
“A 2018 attempt to use CRISPR to edit human embryos in China was met with near-universal condemnation from the scientific community and a prison sentence for the scientist involved.”
— Top 49, on Scientific Discoveries
On the record
Recorded detail
| Year | 2012 |
|---|---|
| Discipline | Genetics |
| Country | USA / Germany |
| Rating | 9.1 |
Panel verdict
Strengths and reservations
What it gets right
- First gene-editing tool cheap and precise enough for widespread academic and clinical use
- Already delivered an approved therapy for sickle cell disease within a decade of discovery
- Won the Nobel Prize within eight years, among the fastest recognitions in the prize’s history
Where it gives ground
- A prolonged patent dispute over foundational credit remains legally unresolved
- Germline editing applications raise ethical questions the science itself cannot settle
1 appearance
Where this entry ranks
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