Updated: December 31, 2012 10:48PM Renowned University of Illinois professor Carl R. Woese, who revolutionized biology with the discovery of a “third domain” of life, died Sunday at his home in Urbana after a seven-month battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 84. Colleagues on Monday said Mr. Woese will be remembered as one of the most influential scientists in world history because of his contributions. Mr. Woese and his colleagues wrote two papers published in 1977 that overturned a universally held assumption about the basic structure of the tree of life by adding a third primary division of life. They reported that the microbes now known as archaea (are-KEY-uh) were as distinct...
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