| 1928 | - | Born in Chicago, Illinois |
| 1950 | - | Ph.D., Indiana University |
| 1953-1955 | - | Watson and Crick decipher molecular structure of DNA molecule and its replicating functions |
| 1955-1956 | - | Cavendish Laboratory, Research |
| 1956-1976 | - | Harvard University, Dept. of Biology |
| 1962 | - | Watson, Crick and Wilkins win Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine |
| 1968 | - | The Double Helix published |
| 1968-1994 | - | Director, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory |
| 1989-1992 | - | Director, National Center for Human Genome Research |
| 1994-present | - | President, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory |