Tjio, Joe Hin

▪ 2002

      Indonesian-born American geneticist (b. Nov. 2, 1919, Java, Indon.—d. Nov. 27, 2001, Gaithersburg, Md.), dispelled a 50-year-held belief that the number of chromosomes in the human cell was 48 when he established that the majority of human cells contain 46 chromosomes, arranged in 23 pairs. While working in 1955 at the Institute of Genetics in Lund, Swed., Tjio used a newly discovered technique to separate chromosomes from the nucleus of a cell; he helped establish modern cytogenetics—the study of the relationship between the structure and activities of chromosomes and the mechanisms of heredity—as a major branch of genetics. His work led to the discovery in 1959 that those people afflicted with Down syndrome have an additional chromosome in their cells. Tjio's early education was in strict Dutch schools in Indonesia, and he also became a student of photography (his father was a professional portrait photographer). After earning a degree in agriculture from the School of Agronomy in Bogor, he conducted research to develop hybrid plants that would be resistant to disease. His photographic skills were instrumental in preparing slide samples. Following a three-year imprisonment in a Japanese prison camp during World War II, he traveled to The Netherlands, where he secured a fellowship to study in Europe. He relaunched his studies on plant and insect cytogenetics and became a noted expert in the field. The government of Spain invited him to conduct studies on a plant-improvement program, and he spent 11 years in Zaragoza. During holidays, however, he carried out research at the Institute of Genetics, where he turned his attention to mammalian tissue. When Tjio published his findings about the correct number of chromosomes in the Scandinavian journal Hereditas in 1956, he created a stir because he failed to cite Albert Levan, the head of the Institute of Genetics, as first author of the paper, a long-standing European convention. Tjio threatened to throw the work away unless he was named first author. In the interests of scientific advancement, Levan relented. During the last 37 years of his career, Tjio worked in the U.S. at the National Institutes of Health, Washington, D.C., where he compiled a remarkable collection of scientific photographs that documented his work. In 1962 Pres. John F. Kennedy presented him with an outstanding achievement award.

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