Dr. Ampli

When Kary Mullis discovered PCR in 1983, the three steps needed for DNA amplification - denaturation, annealing, and elongation (or synthesis) had to be manually performed using three different water baths. The DNA polymerase that would lose its activity at a high denaturation step temperature of 95 degrees C, had to be added manually for each cycle.

The first thermal cycler was developed in 1987 -TC1 DNA Thermal Cycler - after the discovery of thermostable Taq DNA polymerase and automated temperature cycling. Ampliman - GeneAmp PCR System 9600 - is one of the first generations of PCR machines that was developed. It uses the principle of thermal cycling in which the samples can be cycled through different temperatures at a very fast rate. 

This made denaturation of nucleic acid followed by annealing of an oligonucleotide (also called a primer) to the denatured nucleic acid and then finally the polymerization of nucleotides into copying of the original template of nucleic acid possible by an automated machine. Using thermal cycling, a PCR machine can amplify a small amount of DNA or RNA into a larger amount. Thus, making detection or synthesis of a specific sequence of DNA/RNA possible.