J. Craig Venter, Scientist Who Decoded the Human Genome, Dies at 79

Source: New York Times

J. Craig Venter, Scientist Who Decoded the Human Genome, Dies at 79

A risk-taking outsider, he brought speed, competition and controversy to one of science’s biggest races.


J. Craig Venter, next to Algae growth in his greenhouse in La Jolla, Calif., competed with a rival team of scientists in assembling the first human genome. Sandy Huffaker for The New York Times

By Nicholas Wade
https://www.nytimes.com/by/nicholas-wade
April 30, 2026
Updated 4:52 a.m. ET

J. Craig Venter, a scientist and entrepreneur who raced to decode the human genome, died on Wednesday in San Diego. He was 79. ... His death was announced by the J. Craig Venter Institute, a nonprofit research organization founded by Dr. Venter and based in San Diego and Rockville, Md. The institute said in a statement that Dr. Venter had been hospitalized recently for side effects from cancer treatment.

In the 1990s, Dr. Venter, a risk-taker and intense competitor, made a bold move when he decided that the Human Genome Project, a $3 billion government program for decoding the human genome, was moving slowly enough that he could enter the race late and beat it with a much faster method.

His gamble paid off. In 2000, his company, Celera, made a joint announcement with a rival group saying that they had assembled the first human genomes, a landmark step toward uncovering the genetic basis of human disease and origins.

Dr. Venter had a powerful ego. That was clear when he let slip that the anonymous donor whose genome Celera had sequenced was none other than his own.

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A full obituary will be published later.

Jin Yu Young contributed reporting.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/30/science/j-craig-venter-dead.html