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Friedrich Miescher
determined that DNA is not a protein and that it is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, but he never learned its function -
Frederick Griffith
discovered that heat destroyed the ability of lethal S bacteria to cause pneumonia, but it did not destroy their hereditary material, including whatever specified “kill mice.” That material could be transferred from dead S cells to live R cells, which put it to use. -
Oswald Avery, Maclyn McCarty & Colin McCleod
Identified “transforming principle.” They extracted lipid, protein, and nucleic acids from S cells then used a process of elimination to determine which transformed bacteria. Treating the extract with enzymes that destroy lipids and proteins did not destroy the transforming principle -
Barbara McClintock
using corn as a model organism she discovered that genes can move around chromosomes. these mobile genes units are called transposons and are found in many species -
Alfred Hershey & Martha Chase
proved that DNA, and not protein, satisfies the first expected property of a hereditary molecule: It transmits a full complement of hereditary information. -
Erwin Chargaff
discovered that the proportions of bases in DNA depend on the species the DNA comes from -
Rosalind Franklin & Maurice Wilkins
revealed the physical and chemical basis of how characteristics are passed down through the generations and how they are expressed in individual organisms. -
Matthew Meselson & Franklin Stahl
demonstrate that DNA replicates semi conservatively -
James Watson & Frances Crick
described the double helix structure of DNA. -
Linus Pauling
known as the founder of molecular biology due to his discovery of the spiral structure of proteins -
Paul Berg
succeeded in inserting DNA from a bacterium into the virus's DNA. -
Frederick Sanger
developed rapid DNA sequencing methods. colored dyes are used to identify each of the nucleic acids that make up DNA -
Kary Mullis
invented the process known as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), in which a small amount of DNA can be copied in large quantities over a short period of time. -
J. Craig Venter
known for leading the first draft sequence of the human genome and assembled the first team to transfect a cell with a synthetic chromosome.
