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Friedrich Miescher
He discovered DNA while working in Felix Hoppe-Seyler's lab. he was the first person to extract DNA and identified it as a distinct molecule. He never learned DNA's function. -
Frederick Griffith
He accidentally identified DNA and discovered that it can change from one strain to another. He made the discovery when testing mice for pneumonia causing bacteria. -
Oswald Avery, Maclyn McCarty, Colin McCleod
They clarified the chemical nature of genes as well as discovered the DNA can transform a cell's properties. They used deadly and undeadly bacteria to prove that DNA causes bacterial transformation. -
Barbara McClintock
McClintock discovered transposition and used it to prove that genes control physical traits. She discovered that some genes can be mobile and she studied the breakage of chromosones. -
Erwin Chargaff
He did experiments at Columbia University Medical School which led him to discover that A pairs with T and C pairs with G, as well as that there are equal amounts of A and T, and C and G. This discovery helped others to discover the structure of DNA. -
Linus Pauling
He correctly proposed the alpha helix and primary sheet as primary structures in protein. This led him to incorrectly concluding that DNA was a triple helix. He did this with the help of two other men. -
Alfred Hershey, Martha Chase
They contributed to confirming that DNA is genetic material. They showed that when bacteriophages that are made out of protein and DNA infect bacteria, DNA enters the bacteria, but most of the proteins do not. -
Rosalind Franklin, Maurice Wilkins
They identified that DNA's structure is a spiraled ladder. Franklin got two sets of photos of crystallized DNA fibers in high resolution. Wilkins showed Watson and Crick Franklin's x-rays. -
James Watson, Frances Crick
They discovered that DNA's structure was a double helix. They used other research to create models. Their first model was three-stranded and incorrect. -
Matthew Meselson, Franklin Stahl
They conducted an experiment that supported Watson and Crick's idea that DNA replication was semiconservative. -
Frederick Sanger
He and one other person introduced the dideoxy chain-termination method for sequencing DNA based genome. It was a single-strand bacteriophage. -
Paul Berg
He pioneered gene splicing which was the first step towards modern-day genetic engineering. He was the first scientist to create a molecule which contained two different types of DNA. -
Kary Mullis
he was a DNA chemist who invented improvements to the polymerase chain reaction. He had the idea to use primers to bracket desired DNA and to replicate it using DNA polymerase to allow rapid amplification. -
J. Craig Venter
He led the first draft sequence of the human genome. He was also the first to transfect a cell with a synthetic chromosome. He is the CEO of his institution currently.