Precisely 150 years ago, back in 1869, a 25-year-old Swiss biochemist discovered a new substance in cells, calling it nuclein. It is this substance that is now known as DNA. The biochemist is all but forgotten. His name was Friedrich Miescher, and if you have not heard of him, you are not alone.
Fast forward to the massive worldwide 1918 Influenza Epidemic (i.e., the Spanish Flu). Scientists around the world worked feverishly to understand the death dealing attack on humans.
Oswald Avery, a Canadian scientist recruited into the USA Army as a private, working at the Rockefeller Institute laboratories, studied the mutation of the virus. All the other American scientists similarly recruited were classified as Colonels.
While investigating the mutation of the influenza virus, he concluded that the DNA was the substance that carried genetic information. As the pneumococcus changed, its progeny inherited the change. His experiments were irrefutable, and the published results were deemed explosive. He was considered for a Nobel Prize, but his work was far too revolutionary at the time.
Deoxyribonucleic acid. Say that five times quickly. DNA is easier.
Then others pursued the genetic discovery. James Watson and Francis Crick wrote the classic “The Double Helix”. They and others were awarded the Nobel Prize but interestingly, not Avery.
Ron Gilmore
Email: rvg3@me.com
Website: https://rgenealogy.ca