DNA Discovery

Friedrich Miescher

1869

Paved the way for the discovery and identification of DNA as the carrier of inheritance. Isolated various phosphate rich chemicals from the nucleus of white blood cells.

Frederick Griffith

1928

He discovered that bacteria can distinctly change their function and form through transformation. He found genetic material while trying to find a vaccine.

Oswald Avery, Maclyn Mccarty, and Colin McCleod

1944

Discovered that DNA is the substance that causes bacterial transformation. They used mice and streptococci bacteria.

Erwin Chargaff

1950

He discovered that the number of guanine units is equal to the number of cytosine units. He also discovered that the number of adenine units is equal to the number of thymine units. He paved dthe way for the discoveries of DNA's replication process.

Alfred Hershey, and Martha Chase

1952

Discovered that phage DNA is genetic material. They used bacteria to show that DNA is the carrier of genetic information.

Rosalind Franklin & Maurice Wilkins

1952

Franklin discovered the double-helix of DNA. Franklin and Wilkins together worked on figuring out the structure of DNA. What we found interesting was that Franklin was not credited for any of her work after her death.

James Watson and Frances Crick

1953

Watson and Crick were the first to find the correct structure of the double-helix.They were able to figure this out by being given a picture from Maurice Wilkins and what he found. We thought it was interesting how Watson and Crick called their discovery the "secret of life."

Matthew Meselson & Franklin Stahl

1957

Meselson and Stahl proved that each daughter DNA molecule consists of one daughter subunit and one subunit from the parent. This helped researchers understand how DNA replicates. We found it interesting that the ultracentrifuge had to spin 144,000 times the force of gravity to separate the parent and daughter DNA strands.

Linus Pauling

1964

Researched the nature of chemical bonds and their application to the elucidation of the structure of the complex substances. He used proteins and discovered the spiral-like structure.

Paul Berg

1971

Berg spliced a gene from 1 bacterial virus into the DNA of a totally different virus. By doing this, Berg discovered the first rDNA. We thought it was interesting how Berg's experiment would be stopped to make sure no rDNA escaped the lab.

Frederick Sanger

1977

Sanger discovered the order of the bases in the strands of DNA. Sanger was able to use a radioactive marker to identify the specific bases. We found it interesting that Sanger won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Barbara McClintock

1981

McClintock described the exchange of genetic material between chromosomes. These are called "maize chromosomes." We found it interesting that McClintock was the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize without sharing it with anyone else.

Kary Mullis

1983

Mullis invented the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), a multiplies a single DNA strand into billions. The PCR provides an unlimited supply of DNA for scientists to experiment on. We found it interesting that the PCR also allows scientists to extract DNA from fossils.

J. Craig Venter

2003

Venter lead the first draft sequence of the human genome. He also put together the first team to transect a cell with a synthetic chromosome. We found it interesting that after his discoveries, Venter created the Institute for Genomic Research.