On 26 June, 2000, the sciences of biology and medicine changed forever. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair and President of the United States Bill Clinton held a joint press conference, linked via satellite, to announce the completion of the draft of the Human Genome. The New York Times ran a banner headline: 'Genetic Code of Human Life is Cracked by Scientists'. The sequence of three billion bases was the culmination of over a decade of work, during which the goal was always clearly in sight and the only questions were how fast the technology could progress and how generously the funding would flow. The Box shows some of the landmarks along the way..