 Their observations helped to lead later work toward the genetic pathways of programmed cell death.In a signal article published in 1972, John F. Kerr, Andrew H. Wyllie and A. R. Currie, coined the term "apoptosis" in order to differentiate naturally occurring developmental cell death, from the necrosis that results from acute tissue injury.They adopted the Greek word for the process of leaves falling from trees or petals falling from flowers.