The 2008 TIME 100 Finalists

Are They Worthy?

Michel Euler / AP

CRAIG VENTER

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AGE: 61
OCCUPATION: Genetic scientist, founder and former CEO of Celera Genomics
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 1
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 1

PRO: Having led one of the two teams that raced to sequence the human genome in 2000, Venter now claims to have...ahem...created life — i.e., synthesized a new chromosome, from scratch, for a previously nonexistent unicellular creature.

CON: Venter's detractors say he's brash, self-aggrandizing and reckless — and do we really want a godlike temperament playing God?

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