A new volume of Wellcome Witnesses to Contemporary Medicine on Human Gene Mapping Workshops c.1973-c.199 (link is external)1 is freely available to download. This Witness Seminar discusses the scientific origins of gene mapping and emergence of the Human Gene Mapping Workshops (HGMW). From HGM1 in Yale (1973) to HGM11 in London (1991), key scientists, based principally in the UK, share memories of participating in these workshops and reflect on the historical importance of the HGMW in contemporary biomedicine.