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Friedrich Miescher
He described the structure of DNA after extracting it from cell nuclei. He never learned the function of DNA but figured out that it was not a protein. -
Frederick Griffith
While studying a bacteria that causes pneumonia, he discovered that hereditary information passes through two strains of bacteria. -
Alfred Hershey & Martha Chase
They proved that DNA transmits a full complement of hereditary information. They also conducted multiple experiments to determine that the material a bacteriophage injects into bacteria is DNA. -
Barbara McClintock
She discovered genetic transposition. -
Oswald Avery, Maclyn McCarty & Colin McCleod
They discovered that DNA was the transforming principle. Concluded that DNA was hereditary material. -
Linus Pauling
He discovered the spiral structure of proteins. -
Erwin Chargaff
He discovered that bases in DNA depend on the species the DNA comes from. -
Rosalind Franklin & Maurice Wilkins
Wilkins had gathered some data about nucleic acid structure when Franklin joined in and made the first x-ray diffraction image of DNA. She used the x-ray image to come up with more information on DNA. -
James Watson & Frances Crick
They built the first accurate model of DNA. -
Frederick Sanger
He proved that proteins were ordered molecules and that the DNA that creates these proteins should have an ordered sequence. -
Matthew Meselson & Franklin Stahl
They performed an experiment that concluded that each strand in DNA serves as a “template” for a new complementary strand. -
Paul Berg
He created the first DNA molecule made of parts from different organisms. -
Kary Mullis
He invented PCR (polymerase chain reaction). -
J. Craig Venter
He was the primary creator of the Human Genome Project.
