The Human Genome Project

I am a biology major, so this topic really interests me. The human genome project is a research project to map the entire human genome and the 25,000+ genes that make up our gene pool. It launched in 1990 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to better understand all aspects related to human genetic material, or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). This project was completed in 2003, and all of the project's goals were met:

 identify all the approximately 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA,  

determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA,  

store this information in databases,  

improve tools for data analysis,  

transfer related technologies to the private sector, and  

address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project. 

Although there are some controversial, ethical disputes about this project, I believe that the completion of this project was a major stride in the science world;