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Friedrich Meischer
Miescher was a chemist who extracted DNA from cell nuclei. He found it was not a protein and was riched in nitrogen and phosphorus. Something i found interesting is he never found the function of DNA -
Frederick Griffith
He uncovered a clue about DNA's function when studying pneumonia. He used two strands R and S in an experiment to test their ability to cause pneumonia in mice. He found the heat destroyed S' ability but did not destroy R's (the hereditary material). I found it interesting that descendants of the transformed R cells are still able to kill mice. -
Oswald Avery, Maclyn McCarty, and Colin McCloed
they set out to discover identify the R strand by process of elimination. They found it wasn't a lipid nor protein but found it was a nucleic acid. I found it interesting that they also thought DNA and RNA were degrading enzymes. -
Frederick Sanger
He figured out how to order amino acids and was the first person to obtain the protein sequence. He proved that because proteins are in order, DNA/genes are were in order too. I found it interesting that he also worked on along with other scientists on another DNA-related problem. -
Barbara McClintock
By observing and experimenting with variations in the coloration of kernels of corn, she discovered that genetic information is not stationary. she also saw in that experiment that the offspring chromosomes were reorganized versions of parent chromosomes I found it interesting that her work is sometimes called, "jumping genes" -
Erwin Chargaff
He created DNA pairing. In other words, discovered thymine and adenine were identical as was cytosine and guanine. I found it interesting that we named this discovery Chargraffs rule. -
Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase
They were experimenting with a virus that infects bacteria and found these viruses carry info. to make new viruses. They than carried out experiments to determine the composition of hereditary material. From there, they learned DNA was indeed a hereditary molecule. I found it interesting that they discovered it from experimenting bacteria viruses -
Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins
Rosalind captured photo 51 from an x ray crystallography of DNA helical shape. Maurice worked on the same idea. I found it interesting that Watson and Clark took credit for her discovery. -
Linus Pauling
Linus created the triple-stranded DNA model that was a catalyst for James and Francis Crick. I found it interesting that his structure was actually wrong but still contributed to the DNA discovery because it helped form the real structure. -
James Watson and Frances Crick
Discovered the structure of DNA- the double helix. I found it interesting that they both worked at a lab at Cambridge university -
Mathew Meselson and Franklin Stahl
They created three models for how organisms replicate DNA; semi-conservative, conservative, and dispersive. They discovered the semi-conservative did. This meant that each strand in DNA molecules serve as a template for new strands. I found it interesting how they had different research interests but both had became intrigued by the question of DNA replication and teamed up. -
Paul Berg
He conducted a gene-slicing experiment to fin out if it would be possible to insert genes into a virus. His experiment resulted in the first man-made recombiant DNA. I found that it was interesting how shared his noble prize with other scientists, Fredrick Singer and Walter Gilbert. -
Kary Mullis
Invented the polymerse chain reaction (PCR), a simple technique that allows a specific stretch of DNA to be copied billions of times in a few hours. I found it interesting that the earlier methods, was time-consuming, difficult, and expensive -
J. Craig Venter
Lead the first draft sequence of the human genome and assembled the first team to transect a cell with a synthetic chromosome. I found it interesting how he is still is CEO to the J. Craig Venter institute he created.
