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1440
Barbara McClintock
In the late 1440's, she discovered that some genes could be mobile, or the concept of chromosome breakage, which led to the discovery of laws that change position in a chromosome. -
Friedrich Miescher
Friedrich Miescher was responsible for the discovery of Nucleic Acid. In 1869, he was able to isolate nuclein and also was able to identify DNA as a distinct molecule. -
Frederick Griffith
He was a British bacteriologist that had a famous experiment in 1928. This showed that bacteria can distinctly change their function and form through transformation. -
Oswald Avery, Maclyn McCarty & Colin McCleod
These people were responsible for finding out that DNA is a substance that causes bacterial transformation. -
Erwin Chargaff
He became interested in DNA after identifying the molecule as the basis of heredity. In 1950, he discovered that the amounts of adenine and thymine were equal and the amounts of cytosine and guanine were the same. These were known as the first of Chargaff's Rules. -
Rosalind Franklin & Maurice Wilkins
They both used X-ray diffraction to find images of DNA. It was called photo 51 and was used by Watson and Crick to eventually find that DNA is made of a double helix. -
Alfred Hershey & Martha Chase
They did one of the most famous experiments in molecular biology. The "Bender", proved that DNA carried genetic information. -
James Watson & Frances Crick
James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA or the double helix. Also, they found out about the nitrogen bases, adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine. -
Matthew Meselson & Franklin Stahl
Matthew Meselson and Franklin Stahl discovered how to replicate DNA. -
Linus Pauling
In the 1950's, he became known as the founder of molecular biology due to his discovery of the spiral structure of proteins. This contributed to Watson and Crick's breakthrough with the double helix. -
Frederick Sanger
He discovered the base sequences for nucleic acids. -
Paul Berg
He worked along side Frederick Sanger to identify the base sequences for nucleic acids. -
Kary Mullis
He discovered the polymerase chain reaction, or the process of replicating specific fragments of DNA. -
J. Craig Venter
In the early 2000's, he discovered the first human genome using a synthetic chromosome
