Editing Craig Venter (section)

==Early life and education==
Venter was born in [[Salt Lake City]], Utah, the son of Elisabeth and John Venter.<ref name="DNA from the beginning">{{cite web|title=John Craig Venter (1946–)|url=http://www.dnaftb.org/39/bio.html|website=DNA from the beginning|access-date=February 1, 2017}}</ref><ref name="J. Craig Venter-2007">{{cite book| author = J. Craig Venter| title = A Life Decoded: My Genome: My Life| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XtPKtR6gev4C&pg=PA14| date = 2007| publisher = Penguin Group US| isbn = 978-1-101-20256-2| page = 14 }}</ref>{{rp|14}} His family moved to [[Millbrae, California]] during his childhood.<ref>[https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/john-craig-venter-1946 John Craig Venter (1946- )]</ref> In his youth, he did not take his education seriously, preferring to spend his time on the water in boats or surfing.<ref name="J. Craig Venter-2007"/>{{rp|1–20}} According to his biography, ''A Life Decoded'', he was said never to be a terribly engaged student, having Cs and Ds on his eighth-grade report cards.<ref name="J. Craig Venter-2007"/>{{rp|1–20}} Venter considered that his behavior in his adolescence was indicative of [[attention deficit hyperactivity disorder]] (ADHD), and later found ADHD-linked genetic variants in his own DNA.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3310672/Craig-Venter-Creating-life-in-a-lab-using-DNA.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091213173636/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3310672/Craig-Venter-Creating-life-in-a-lab-using-DNA.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=December 13, 2009 | work=The Daily Telegraph | first=Craig | last=Venter | title=Craig Venter: Creating life in a lab using DNA | date=October 16, 2007}}</ref> He graduated from [[Mills High School]]. His father died suddenly at age 59 from cardiac arrest, giving him a lifelong awareness of his own mortality. He quotes a saying: "If you want immortality, do something meaningful with your life."<ref name="Robbins-2022"/>

Although he opposed the [[Vietnam War]],<ref>{{cite book| author = J. Craig Venter| title = A Life Decoded| chapter-url = https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16004438| date = 2007| publisher = Viking| isbn = 978-0-670-06358-1| oclc = 165048736| chapter = Introduction| quote = For many years I have been trying to make sense and meaning out of the lives I saw destroyed or maimed due to the government policies that involved us in the war in Vietnam.| url = https://archive.org/details/lifedecodedmygen00vent}}</ref> Venter was drafted and enlisted in the [[United States Navy]] where he worked as a [[hospital corpsman]] in the intensive-care ward of a field hospital.<ref>{{cite journal | title = Breakthrough Awards 2010: Pioneering New Life | journal = Popular Mechanics | date = November 2010 | first = Logan | last = Ward | volume = 187 | issue = 11 | pages = 62–65| type = Print}}</ref> He served from 1967 to 1968 at the [[Naval Support Activity Danang]] in Vietnam. While in Vietnam, he attempted suicide by swimming out to sea, but changed his mind more than a mile out.<ref name="Ross Douthat-2007">{{cite journal |journal=[[The Atlantic]]|date=January–February 2007
|url = https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/01/the-god-of-small-things/5556/
|author=Ross Douthat | title=The God of Small Things| access-date=January 28, 2011}}</ref>
Being confronted with severely injured and dying marines on a daily basis instilled in him a desire to study medicine,<ref>'Artificial life' breakthrough announced by scientists, BBC, May 21, 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10138849.stm</ref> although he later switched to [[biomedical research]].

Venter began his college education in 1969 at a [[community college]], [[College of San Mateo]] in California, and later transferred to the [[University of California, San Diego]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Union-Tribune |first=Gary Robbins {{!}} The San Diego |date=2022-04-27 |title=Geneticist Craig Venter sells his La Jolla research center to UC San Diego for $25 million |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2022/04/27/geneticist-craig-venter-sells-his-la-jolla-research-center-to-uc-san-diego-for-25-million-2/ |access-date=2025-01-20 |website=San Diego Union-Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Nunn |first=Lewis |title=Phytoplankton Genetically Sequenced At Sea For The First Time |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/lewisnunn/2024/05/24/phytoplankton-genetically-sequenced-at-sea-for-the-first-time/ |access-date=2025-01-20 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref> where he studied under biochemist [[Nathan O. Kaplan]]. He received a Bachelor of Science in [[biochemistry]] in 1972 and a Doctor of Philosophy in [[physiology]] and [[pharmacology]] in 1975 from UCSD.<ref name="ScienceWatch-1997">{{cite journal |url=http://archive.sciencewatch.com/sept-oct97/sw_sep-oct97_page3.htm |title=Craig Venter Takes Aim at the Big Questions |journal=[[ScienceWatch]] |date=September–October 1997 |volume=8 |issue=5 |access-date=June 7, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091018030726/http://archive.sciencewatch.com/sept-oct97/sw_sep-oct97_page3.htm |archive-date=October 18, 2009 }}</ref><ref name="The Sydney Morning Herald-2007">{{cite news |url=https://www.smh.com.au/news/science/the-god-of-small-things/2007/01/25/1169594430068.html?page=fullpage |title=The god of small things |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=January 26, 2007}}</ref>