In the 1940s, scientists made a discovery now fundamental to biology: genes are encoded in DNA. The story involves bacteria, dead mice, and a kitchen cream separator.
TY! I've never understood why discovering the structure of DNA was "the" thing, when figuring out what genes are made of and the language they use is so much more important. Marketing / self-promotion, IMO.
100%! The tragedy is if Avery were more of a “salesman” he probably would’ve gotten the Nobel, and be as much a household name as those whose discoveries stemmed from his work. But he did the scientifically responsible thing and, despite ALL the evidence proving genes = DNA, acknowledged how he could be wrong.
Thank you for this article. It amazes me that so much effort was required to identify DNA. Reminds me of the efforts to prove that the Earth rotated around the Sun, rather than the other way around. Fortunately no one was arrested and taken to the torture chamber underneath the Vatican to be shown the instruments of torture which would be used if he contradicted one sentence in the Old Testament.
TY! I've never understood why discovering the structure of DNA was "the" thing, when figuring out what genes are made of and the language they use is so much more important. Marketing / self-promotion, IMO.
100%! The tragedy is if Avery were more of a “salesman” he probably would’ve gotten the Nobel, and be as much a household name as those whose discoveries stemmed from his work. But he did the scientifically responsible thing and, despite ALL the evidence proving genes = DNA, acknowledged how he could be wrong.
Thank you for this article. It amazes me that so much effort was required to identify DNA. Reminds me of the efforts to prove that the Earth rotated around the Sun, rather than the other way around. Fortunately no one was arrested and taken to the torture chamber underneath the Vatican to be shown the instruments of torture which would be used if he contradicted one sentence in the Old Testament.
Fascintating, thanks for sharing! I was intrigues to learn about Avery's process with huge volumes of bacterial cultures.