Historical Perspectives On Contemporary Issues
The DNA Papers
This podcast series illuminates the history of seminal discoveries and research through which we learned about the molecule that has been dubbed as the “secret of life” itself: DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid.
This series progresses from the first discovery of the substance in 1869 to the late 1950s, when scientists figured out the structure of this molecule and its implications for the way in which it carries out its biological functions. Each episode features scholars and experts from different fields, including the history of science, other humanities and social sciences—such as philosophy, anthropology, sociology of science and STS—the specific areas of science pertinent to the paper being discussed, and science communication.
Click on the “Resources” tab for information for researchers as well as further readings.
Jump to:
Episode 1 on Friedrich Miescher and the discovery of nuclein
Episode 2 on Albrecht Kossel and the discovery of the building blocks of nuclein
Episode 3 on Walter Sutton and the relation between chromosomes and heredity
Episode 4 on Fred Griffith and the discovery of bacterial transformation
Episode 5 on Phoebus Levene, DNA chemistry and the tetranucleotide hypothesis
Episode 6 on William Astbury, Florence Bell and the first X-ray pictures of DNA
Episode 7 on Oswald Avery, Colin McLeod, and Maclyn McCarty and the chemical basis of bacterial transformation
Episode 8 on Maclyn McCarty, Oswald Avery and the enzymatic evidence for DNA as the transforming substance
Episode 9 on Erwin Chargaff and the evidence for non-uniformity of nucleotide base composition in DNA
Episode 10 on Harriet Ephrussi-Taylor, Rollin Hotchkiss and the demonstration of bacterial transformation as a general phenomenon
Episode 11 on Alfred Hershey, Martha Chase, and the conclusive evidence for the function of DNA as the material of heredity
Episode 12 on Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin, their collaborators, and the data that supported the double helix model for DNA structure
Episode 13 on James Watson, Francis Crick, and the DNA Double Helix
Episode 14 on Matthew Meselson, Franklin Stahl, and semiconservative replication of DNA
Episode 15 A conversation with Matthew Meselson and Franklin Stahl
Photo Credit: DNA Origami. Prof. Mark Szczelkun, University of Bristol.
Neeraja Sankaran introduces the series, which she organized and moderates. She is a historian of science and medicine at the National Centre for Biological Sciences-TIFR, Bangalore, India. Her work focuses on the recent and near-contemporary history of biomedical sciences. An independent scholar since 2015, she has held both research and teaching positions at universities in different parts of the world, including the United States, Egypt, South Korea, India, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
See also a collection of Resources.
Closed-captioning available on YouTube.
Recorded October 4, 2022
Image courtesy of
Wellcome Collection
The first episode of the DNA Papers goes back to the nineteenth century when a young Swiss doctoral student, searching for the secrets of life by delving into the chemistry of cells, stumbled on to a hitherto unknown new chemical substance localized in the nucleus of pus cells. He named the substance nuclein; we now recognize it by the commonly used acronym for its chemical name: DNA. Friedrich Miescher reported his discovery in “Uber Die Chemische Zusammensetzung Der Eiterzellen.” [On the chemical composition of pus cells] Medizinisch-Chemische Untersuchungen 4 (1871): 441–60.
Joining us to discuss the significance of Miescher and his discovery are:
Ralf Dahm
Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) gGmbH / Excellence Center for Life Sciences, Mainz, Germany
Kersten Hall
University of Leeds
William C. Summers
Yale University
Sophie Veigl
University of Vienna
See also a collection of Resources.
Closed captioning available on YouTube.
Recorded January 17, 2022
Image courtesy of
Wellcome Collection
In episode 2 of the DNA Papers we discuss a cluster of papers from the late nineteenth century by the German physiological chemist Albrecht Kossel, who studied the chemical make-up of nuclein, and found and named its nitrogen-containing building blocks, probably best recognized today by their labels A, T, G, and C. Although the work was deemed sufficiently important by his contemporaries to garner him the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1910, Kossel remains a lesser known figure in the history of DNA, especially among non-German speakers. The papers featured in this discussion are:
Kossel, Albrecht. 1879. “Ueber Das Nucleïn Der Hefe.” [On the nuclein of yeast] Zeitschrift Für Physiologische Chemie 3: 284–91.
Kossel, Albrecht. 1882. “Zur Chemie Des Zellkerns.” [On the chemistry of the nuclei of cells] Zeitschrift Für Physiologische Chemie 7: 7–22.
Kossel, Albrecht. 1886. “Weitere Beiträge Zur Chemie Des Zellkerns.” [Further contributions on the chemistry of the nuclei of cells] Zeitschrift Für Physiologische Chemie 10: 248–64.
Sharing their perspectives on the Kossel’s contributions and their importance are:
Pnina Abir-Am
Brandeis University
Mark Lorch
University of Hull
Hans-Jörg Rheinberger
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
See also a collection of Resources.
Closed captioning available on YouTube.
Recorded on July 12, 2022.
The papers discussed in episode 3 of the DNA Papers do not mention DNA in any way at all! And yet they are vitally important in any history of DNA because they provided the first step in bringing together a visible cellular component—the chromosome—both with ideas about heredity and about the chemical workings of living cells (DNA). The two papers, by Walter Sutton, “On the Morphology of the Chromosome Group in Brachystola Magna,” and “The chromosomes in heredity,” were published in 1902 and 1903 in the journal The Biological Bulletin, in 1902 (Vol. 4 (1): 24-39) and 1903 (Vol. 4 (5): 231-251), respectively.
Here to share their insights about the bearings of Sutton and his discoveries and thoughts on the hereditary functions of the chromosomes are:
Matthew Cobb
University of Manchester
Durgadas Kasbekar
The Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics
Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis
University of Florida
See also a collection of Resources.
Closed captioning available on YouTube.
Recorded on on Aug 25, 2022
Episode 4 of the DNA Papers features another chapter in the deep history of DNA in which the molecule itself doesn’t come up. As in the previous episode, the paper makes no explicit reference to either the molecule or its function. But the paper occupies an indisputable role in the history of DNA, because the discovery it reports opened the door to discovery of the function of DNA as the carrier of hereditary information. Joining the discussion on “The significance of pneumococcal types” by the British microbiologist and epidemiologist Fred Griffith, The Journal of Hygiene 27 (02): 113–59; 1928) are:
Lloyd Ackert
Drexel University
Matthew Cobb
University of Manchester (guest moderator)
Michel Morange
IHPST, Université Paris I
See also a collection of Resources.
Closed captioning available on YouTube.
Recorded on Sept 19, 2022.
Episode 5 of the DNA Papers examines the contributions of the organic chemist Phoebus Levene, who published a corpus of some 200 papers on the subject over a period of four decades, during which he made discoveries about the constituents of, and developed his ideas about the structure of, DNA. Among other things, he was the first person to correctly identify the sugar components of the nucleic acids: d-ribose in RNA and d-2-deoxyribose in DNA. But these contributions have often been overlooked, and Levene is unfortunately more likely to be remembered in a negative light for something called the tetranucleotide hypothesis, which many believe hampered the progress of understanding the role of DNA.
Here to talk about Levene’s contributions to nucleic acid chemistry, and offer some perspective about the tetranucleotide hypothesis are:
Pnina Abir-Am
Brandeis University
Pedro Bernal
Rollins College
Mark Lorch
University of Hull
See also a collection of Resources.
Closed captioning available on YouTube.
Recorded on Feb 13, 2023.
The sixth installment of this podcast series introduces a brand new player into the story of DNA: a technique from physics called X-ray crystallography. This technique would eventually play a key role in unlocking the secrets of DNA structure, but this 1938 paper by Leeds-based scientists William Astbury and Florence Bell marks the first instance of anyone attempting to use X-rays for the visualization of the nucleic acids. It is also the first paper in this series where the main contributor to the work was a woman.
Sharing their insights about the significance of the “X-Ray Study of Thymonucleic Acid” which was published in the prestigious journal Nature (v. 141: 747-748), are:
Manju Bansal
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Kersten Hall
University of Leeds
Matthew Meselson
Harvard University
Jan Witkowski
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
See also a collection of Resources.
Closed captioning available on YouTube.
Recorded on April 4, 2023.
![](https://www.chstm.org/sites/default/files/DNA7%20x300.jpeg)
![](https://www.chstm.org/sites/default/files/Matthew%2BCobb%20x100.jpg)
University of Manchester
![](https://www.chstm.org/sites/default/files/Ute%20Deichmann%20x100.jpg)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
![](https://www.chstm.org/sites/default/files/Geoffrey%20Montgomery%20x100.jpg)
Independent Science Writer, New York City
Image courtesy of Jan Witkowski.
In Episode 8 of the DNA papers, we discuss the papers that directly followed up the discovery of the 1944 paper from episode 7. These papers, which have received little attention in histories of DNA, describe the purification and experimental use of an enzyme, desoxyribonuclease, or DNase, which specifically destroys DNA. By showing how the transforming principle is inactivated by this enzyme alone and not by RNA- or protein-degrading enzymes- the DNase experiments left “little doubt” that DNA is the chemical substance responsible for the transformation of bacterial types.
Papers discussed include:
- McCarty, Maclyn. 1946. “Purification and Properties of Desoxyribonuclease Isolated from Beef Pancreas.” The Journal of General Physiology 29 (3): 123–39.
- McCarty, Maclyn, and O.T. Avery. 1946. “Studies on the Chemical Nature of the Substance Inducing Transformation of Pneumococcal Types. II. Effect of Desoxyribonuclease on the Biological Activity of the Transforming Substance.” Journal of Experimental Medicine 83: 89–96.
Returning to the podcast series to share their thoughts on the place of these experiments in DNA history are:
Mark Lorch
University of Hull
Geoffrey Montgomery
Independent Science Writer
Michel Morange
IHPST, Université Paris I
Jan Witkowski
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
See also a collection of Resources.
Closed captioning available on YouTube.
Recorded on June 22, 2023.
Erwin Chargaff, 1999.
Image courtesy of Jan Witkowski.
Episode 9 of the DNA Papers discusses a set of papers by the first scientist who made a sustained effort into uncovering the secret behind specificity of nucleic acids. The principle author, Erwin Chargaff, a European-American biochemist from Columbia University in New York, determined that the relative rations of the four nucleotide bases—A, T, G and C—were not present in all DNA in equal amounts as widely assumed, but rather, that they varied in proportion from one to another, with the amount of the A and G bases being equal to the T and C bases respectively. Furthermore, he also demonstrated that the ratio of these amounts was specific and consistent for a given species. He first laid out his vision for determining the role of nucleic acids in 1947, and over the next decade or so, proceeded to probe the finer details of DNA chemistry with the then state-of-the art innovations in techniques such as chromatography and UV spectroscopy.
Papers discussed include:
- Chargaff, Erwin. “On the Nucleoproteins and Nucleic Acids of Microorganisms.” Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology 12 (January 1, 1947): 28–34. https://doi.org/10.1101/SQB.1947.012.01.006.
- Vischer, Ernst, and Erwin Chargaff. “The Separation and Quantitative Estimation of Purines and Pyrimidines in Minute Amounts.” Journal of Biological Chemistry 176 (1948): 703–14.
- Chargaff, Erwin. “Chemical Specificity of Nucleic Acids and Mechanism of Their Enzymatic Degradation.” Experientia 6, no. 6 (June 15, 1950): 201–9.
Joining us to illuminate the role of Chargaff and his experiments in the history of DNA are:
Pnina Abir-Am
Brandeis University
Kersten Hall
University of Leeds
Hans-Jörg Rheinberger
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
See also a collection of Resources.
Closed captioning available on YouTube.
Recorded on August 9, 2023.
Harriet Ephrussi-Taylor & Rollin Hotchkiss at 1947 symposium
Image courtesy of CSHL Library and Archives.
The tenth episode of the DNA papers podcast brings to light some of the lesser discussed papers in the history of DNA that were instrumental in confirming its role in effecting genetic transformation. Both papers discussed in this episode were first presented at the 1951 Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on Quantitative Biology; the first by a geneticist, and the second by a chemist, who were responsible for maintaining the continuity of work on bacterial transformation in Avery’s laboratory. These two papers provided important corroboration for the 1946 implication that the nucleic acid—DNA—of pneumococcus might be able to transform a variety of other bacterial traits besides their capsules and virulence.
Ephrussi-Taylor, Harriett. “Genetic Aspects of Transformations of Pneumococci.” In Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 16:445–56. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1951.
Hotchkiss, Rollin D. “Transfer of Penicillin Resistance in Pneumococci by the Desoxyribonucleate Derived from Resistant Cultures.” Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology 16 (January 1, 1951): 457–61. https://doi.org/10.1101/SQB.1951.016.01.032.
Here to share their insights on these papers are:
Eleonora Cresto
National Council for Scientific and Technical Research, Buenos Aires
Geoffrey Montgomery
Independent Science Writer
Michel Morange
IHPST, Université Paris I
Jan Witkowski
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
See also a collection of Resources.
Closed captioning available on YouTube.
Recorded on Sept 19, 2023.
Alfred Hershey, Martha Chase and a Waring blender
Image courtesy of CSHL Library and Archives
In episode 11 of The DNA Papers we revisit a paper describing a famous experiment performed by Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase which combined the atomic-age tools of radioisotopes with an ordinary kitchen blender to show that DNA alone, and not protein, was the carrier of hereditary information:
Hershey, Alfred D., and Martha Chase. “Independent Functions of Viral Protein and Nucleic Acid in Growth of Bacteriophage.” The Journal of General Physiology 36, no. 1 (1952): 39–56.
By using radioisotopes to separately label the DNA and protein components of a bacterial virus and demonstrating DNA’s central role in the earliest stages of viral replication inside a bacterial cell, Hershey and Chase’s 1952 paper provided powerful evidence about the chemical nature of the gene, and gained a well-deserved place among the classics in the history of DNA science. Here to share their ideas and opinions about the history and significance of this paper are:
Angela Creager
Princeton University
Geoffrey Montgomery
Independent Science Writer
William Summers
Yale University
See also a collection of Resources.
Closed captioning available on YouTube.
Recorded on Oct 24, 2023.
- Wilkins, Maurice Hugh Frederick, Alec R. Stokes, and Herbert R. Wilson. “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: Molecular Structure of Deoxypentose Nucleic Acids.” Nature 171, no. 4356 (1953): 738–40.
- Franklin, Rosalind E., and Raymond G. Gosling. “Molecular Configuration in Sodium Thymonucleate.” Nature 171, no. 4356 (1953): 740–41.
- Franklin, Rosalind E., and Raymond G. Gosling. “Evidence for 2-Chain Helix in Crystalline Structure of Sodium Deoxyribonucleate.” Nature 172 (1953): 156–57.
![](https://www.chstm.org/sites/default/files/Soraya%20de%20Chadarevian%20x100.jpg)
University of California, Los Angeles
![](https://www.chstm.org/sites/default/files/Elspeth%20Garman%20x100.jpg)
Oxford University
![](https://www.chstm.org/sites/default/files/KerstenHall%20%20x100.jpg)
University of Leeds
DNA model built by Crick and Watson in 1953
on display in the National Science Museum of London
Wikimedia Commons
Rounding out the story begun in the previous installment, episode 13 of the DNA Papers centers on the publications in which the double helical structure for DNA was proposed, detailed, and its various implications speculated upon. It features four papers, all by Watson and Crick from Cambridge. Together these papers not only proposed that DNA’s three dimensional structure was a double-stranded helix, but also described the antiparallel and complementary nature of its two component strands and the specific pairing of the component nucleotide bases, namely, the purines, A and G, with the pyrimidines T and C respectively. The papers also discussed the implications of these features for the fundamental functions of DNA.
Watson, J. D., and F. H. C. Crick. “A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid.” Nature 171, no. 4356 (1953): 737–38.
Watson, James D., and Francis H. C. Crick. “The Structure of DNA.” Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology 18 (1953): 123–31.
Watson, J. D., and F. H. C. Crick. “Genetical Implications of the Structure of Deoxyribonucleic Acid.” Nature 171, no. 4361 (May 30, 1953): 964–67. https://doi.org/10.1038/171964b0.
Crick, Francis HC, and James D. Watson. “The Complementary Structure of Deoxyribonucleic Acid.” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences 223, no. 1152 (1954): 80–96.
Here to share their insights into the DNA double helix and place the discovery in their proper and well-deserved historical context are our distinguished guests:
Soraya de Chadarevian
University of California, Los Angeles
Matthew Cobb
University of Manchester
Nathaniel Comfort
Johns Hopkins University
Georgina Ferry
Freelance science writer, Oxford, UK
See also a collection of Resources.
Recorded on Dec. 11, 2023.
Closed captioning available on YouTube.
The penultimate episode of the DNA Papers podcast series revisits a paper that demonstrated the semiconservative mode of DNA replication, which had been predicted by complementary base-paired double helix model of the molecule discussed in episode 13 of this series:
Tune in one last time to a bonus episode of The DNA Papers with the authors of "the most beautiful experiment in biology" as they reminisce about "the best years of their lives" and field questions from the commentators of episode 14. Series moderator Neeraja Sankaran was joined by historian of science Kersten Hall to co-host this special treat.
Insights from the Collections
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Selected Bibliography
Introduction
Though by no means a comprehensive list, here are some suggestions:
Hayes, W. 1960. “DNA and Biological Research.” Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine 53 (8): 620–25. https://doi.org/10.1177/003591576005300808.
Pollock, M. R. 1970. “The Discovery of DNA: An Ironic Tale of Chance, Prejudice and Insight.” Journal of General Microbiology 63: 1–20.
Portugal, Franklin H., and Jack S. Cohen. A Century of DNA: A History of the Discovery of the Structure and Function of the Genetic Substance. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1977.
Judson, H. F. The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology. Simon and Schuster, 1979.
Olby, Robert Cecil. The Path to the Double Helix: The Discovery of DNA. Courier Dover Publications, 1994.
Lagerkvist, Ulf. DNA Pioneers and Their Legacy. Yale University Press New Haven, CT, 1998.
Nelkin, Dorothy, and M. Susan Lindee. The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon [With a New Preface and Conclusion]. University of Michigan Press, 2004.
Altman, Sidney. “Masters of DNA.” Journal of Biological Chemistry 280, no. 15 (April 15, 2005): 14361–65. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.X400012200.
Williams, Gareth. Unravelling the Double Helix: The Lost Heroes of DNA. Hachette UK, 2019.
Morange, Michel. 2020. The Black Box of Biology: A History of the Molecular Revolution. Translated by Matthew Cobb. Harvard University Press. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674281363.
Episode 1
Greenstein, Jesse P. 1943. “Friedrich Miescher, 1844-1895.” The Scientific Monthly 57 (6): 523–32.
Buess, Heinrich. 1953. “Joh. Friedrich Miescher and the Contribution of Basle Physicians to the Biology of the Nineteenth Century.” The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine 25 (4): 250–61.
Mirsky, Alfred E. 1968. “The Discovery of DNA.” Scientific American 218 (6): 78–90.
Olby, Robert. 1969. “Cell Chemistry in Miescher’s Day.” Medical History 13 (4): 377–82.
James, J. 1970. “Miescher’s Discoveries of 1869: A Centenary of Nuclear Chemistry.” Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry 18 (3): 217–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/18.3.217.
Dahm, Ralf. 2005. “Friedrich Miescher and the Discovery of DNA.” Developmental Biology 278 (2): 274–88.
Dahm, Ralf. 2008. “Discovering DNA: Friedrich Miescher and the Early Years of Nucleic Acid Research.” Human Genetics 122 (6): 565–81.
Dahm, Ralf. 2008. “The First Discovery of DNA.” American Scientist 96 (4): 320–27.
Dahm, Ralf. 2010. “A Link in the Chain: Friedrich Miescher (1844-1895).” Karger Gazette, 3
Dahm, Ralf. 2010. “From Discovering to Understanding: Friedrich Miescher’s Attempts to Uncover the Function of DNA.” EMBO Reports 11 (3): 153–60. https://doi.org/10.1038/embor.2010.14.
Dahm, Ralf. 2021. “Isolating the Instructions for Life.” American Scientist 109: 134–35.
Dahm, Ralf, and Mita Banerjee. 2019. “How We Forgot Who Discovered DNA: Why It Matters How You Communicate Your Results.” BioEssays 41 (4): 1900029.
Lamm, Ehud, Oren Harman, and Sophie Juliane Veigl. 2020. “Before Watson and Crick in 1953 Came Friedrich Miescher in 1869.” Genetics 215 (2): 291–96. https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.120.303195.
Veigl, Sophie Juliane, Oren Harman, and Ehud Lamm. 2020. “Friedrich Miescher’s Discovery in the Historiography of Genetics: From Contamination to Confusion, from Nuclein to DNA.” Journal of the History of Biology 53 (3): 451–84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-020-09608-3.
Hall, Kersten, and Neeraja Sankaran. 2021. “DNA Translated: Friedrich Miescher’s Discovery of Nuclein in Its Original Context.” The British Journal for the History of Science 54 (1): 99–107. https://doi.org/10.1017/S000708742000062X.
Episode 2
Kossel, Albrecht. “The Chemical Composition of the Cell.” The Harvey Lectures 7 (1912): 33–51.
Kossel, Albrecht. “Nobel Lecture: The Chemical Composition of the Cell Nucleus.” NobelPrize.org, December 12, 1910. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1910/kossel/lecture/.
Abir-Am, Pnina. Review of A Century of DNA: A History of the Discovery of the Structure and Function of the Genetic Substance, by Franklin H. Portugal and Jack S. Cohen. Isis 69, no. 3 (1978): 449–50.
Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg. “A Short History of Molecular Biology.” History and Philosophy of Science and Technology 2 (2010): 1–31.
Framm, Edith, and Joachim Framm. Albrecht Kossel und die DNA: Ein Nobelpreisträger aus Mecklenburg [Albrecht Kossel and DNA: A Nobel Laureate from Mecklenburg]. Wismar, 2019.
Lorch, Mark. Biochemistry: A Very Short Introduction. Very Short Introductions. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2021.
Framm, Edith, and Joachim Framm. 2022. “Albrecht Kossel Und Die Nukleinbasen [Abrecht Kossel and the nucleobases],” Chemie in Unserer Zeit 56 (6): 372–77.
Episode 3
Mendel, Gregor. 1865. “Experiments in Plant Hybridization.” Presented at the Brünn Natural History Society, Brünn. http://old.esp.org/
Boveri, Theodor. 1904. Ergebnisse Über Die Konstitution Der Chromatischen Substanz Des Zelkerns [Results on the constitution of the chromatin substance of the cell’s nucleus] Jena: Fisher.
Smocovitis, V. B. 1992. “Unifying Biology: The Evolutionary Synthesis and Evolutionary Biology.” Journal of the History of Biology 25 (1): 1–65. https://doi.org/10.1007/
Smocovitis, Vassiliki Betty. 1997. “G. Ledyard Stebbins, Jr. and the Evolutionary Synthesis (1924-1950).” American Journal of Botany 84 (12): 1625–37. https://doi.org/10.2307/
Martins, L.A.-C.P. 1999. “Did Sutton and Boveri Propose the So-Called Sutton-Boveri Chromosome Hypothesis?” Genetics and Molecular Biology 22 (2): 261–72. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1415-
Crow E. W. and J. F. Crow 2002 "Perspectives 100 years ago: Walter Sutton and the chromosome theory of heredity." Genetics 160: 1-4.
Tagarelli, Antonio, Anna Piro, Paolo Lagonia, and Giuseppe Tagarelli. 2003. “Walter Stanborough Sutton: A Hundred Years after the Chromosomal Theory of Heredity.” Chromosoma 112: 1–5.
Hegreness, Matthew, and Matthew Meselson. 2007. “What Did Sutton See?: Thirty Years of Confusion Over the Chromosomal Basis of Mendelism.” Genetics 176 (4): 1939–44. https://doi.org/10.1534/
Satzinger, Helga. 2008. “Theodor and Marcella Boveri: Chromosomes and Cytoplasm in Heredity and Development.” Nature Reviews Genetics 9 (3): 231–38. https://doi.org/10.1038/
Mahadevan, S. 2009. “Walter Sutton and the Chromosome Theory of Heredity.” Resonance, 312–15.
Deichmann, Ute. 2015. “Chromatin: Its History, Current Research, and the Seminal Researchers and Their Philosophy.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 58 (2): 143–64. https://doi.org/10.1353/pbm.
Kasbekar, D. P. 2016. “History and Development of Genetics Research in India: Three Case Studies.” Indian Journal of History of Science 51 (2.2). https://doi.org/10.16943/ijhs/
Episode 4
Griffith, Fred. 1921. “Serological Types of Pneumococci in Lobar Pneumonia: A Study of 100 Cases.” The Lancet 198 (5109): 226–28.
Griffith, Fred. 1923. “The Influence of Immune Serum on the Biological Properties of Pneumococci.” Reports of the Local Government Board on Public Health and Medical Subjects, no. 18: 1–13.
Griffith, Fred. 1926. “Types of Haemolytic Streptococci in Relation to Scarlet Fever.” Epidemiology and Infection 25 (4): 385–97. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022172400017502.
Arkwright, J. A. 1929. “Bradshaw Lecture on the Virulence of the Microorganism in Infective Disease.” The Lancet, Originally published as Volume 2, Issue 5541, 214 (5541): 963–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(01)09687-8.
Arkwright, J. A. 1930. “Variation.” In A System of Bacteriology in Relation to Medicine, 1:311–74. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office.
Lederberg, J. 1949. “Bacterial Variation.” Annual Reviews in Microbiology 3 (1): 1–22.
Lederberg, Joshua. 1956. “Genetic Transduction.” American Scientist 44 (3): 264–80.
Hayes, W. 1966a. “Genetic Transformation: A Retrospective Appreciation First Griffith Memorial Lecture.” Microbiology 45 (3): 385–97.
Hayes, W. 1966b. “The Discovery of Pneumococcal Type Transformation: An Appreciation.” The Journal of Hygiene 64 (2): 177–84.
Downie, A. W. 1972. “Pneumococcal Transformation-A Backward View Fourth Griffith Memorial Lecture.” Microbiology 73 (1): 1–11.
Baxby, Derrick. 1989. “The Significance of Pneumococcal Type Transformation in the History of Molecular Biology and Genetics.” Journal of Biological Education 23 (3): 213–17.
Ackert, Lloyd. 2003. “Microbial Musings: A History of Microbiology (Review), by Debra Jan Bibel.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 77 (2): 466–67. https://doi.org/10.1353/bhm.2003.0048.
Ackert, Lloyd. 2007. “René Dubos, Friend of the Good Earth: Microbiologist, Medical Scientist, Environmentalist (Review).” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 81 (3): 676–77. https://doi.org/10.1353/bhm.2007.0060.
Moxon, E. Richard. 2009. “Bacterial Variation, Virulence and Vaccines.” Microbiology 155 (4): 997–1003. https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.024877-0.
Ackert, Lloyd. 2012. Sergei Vinogradskii and the Cycle of Life: From the Thermodynamics of Life to Ecological Microbiology, 1850-1950. Springer.
Eichmann, Klaus, and Richard M. Krause. 2013. “Fred Neufeld and Pneumococcal Serotypes: Foundations for the Discovery of the Transforming Principle.” Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 70 (13): 2225–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-013-1351-z.
Méthot, Pierre-Olivier. “Bacterial Transformation and the Origins of Epidemics in the Interwar Period: The Epidemiological Significance of Fred Griffith’s ‘Transforming Experiment.’” Journal of the History of Biology 49, no. 2 (2016): 311–58.
Morange, Michel. “The Historiography of Molecular Biology.” In Handbook of the Historiography of Biology, edited by Michael Dietrich, Mark Borrello, and Oren Harman, 1–20. Historiographies of Science. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74456-8_11-1.
Episode 5
Levene, P. A. 1909. “Über Die Hefenucleinsaure.” Biochem. Zschr. 17: 120–31.
Levene, P. A. 1910. “On the Biochemistry of Nucleic Acids.” Journal of the American Chemical Society 32 (2): 231–40. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja01920a010.
Levene, P.A., and W.A. Jacobs. 1912. “On the Structure of Thymus Nucleic Acid.” Journal of Biological Chemistry 12 (3): 411–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0021-9258(18)88677-X.
Levene, P. A. 1919. “The Structure of Yeast Nucleic Acid IV: Ammonia Hydrolysis.” Journal of Biological Chemistry 40: 415–24.
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Episode 6
Astbury, William T., and Florence O. Bell. “Some Recent Developments in the X-Ray Study of Proteins and Related Structures.” In Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 6:109–21. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1938.
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Episode 7
Hotchkiss, R. D. 1953. “The Genetic Chemistry of the Pneumococcal Transformations.” Harvey Lectures 49: 124–44.
Mirsky, Alfred E. 1953. “The Chemistry of Heredity.” Scientific American 188 (2): 47–57.
Dubos, R. J. 1956. “Oswald Theodore Avery. 1877-1955.” Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 2 (November): 35–48.
Hotchkiss, R. D. 1965. “Oswald T. Avery: 1877-1955.” Genetics 51 (1): 1–10.
Hotchkiss, Rollin D. 1966. “Gene, Transforming Principle, and DNA.” In Phage and the Origins of Molecular Biology, 180–200.
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Episode 8
Dubos, René, and Oswald T. Avery. “Decomposition of the Capsular Polysaccharide of Pneumococcus Type II by a Bacterial Enzyme.” Journal of Experimental Medicine 54, no. 1 (July 1, 1931): 51–71. https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.54.1.51.
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Episode 9
Chargaff, Erwin, and Ernst Vischer. “Nucleoproteins, Nucleic Acids, and Related Substances.” Annual Review of Biochemistry 17, no. 1 (1948): 201–26.
Hotchkiss, Rollin D. “The Quantitative Separation of Purines, Pyrimidines, and Nucleosides by Paper Chromatography.” Journal of Biological Chemistry 175, no. 1 (1948): 315–32.
Vischer, Ernst, and Erwin Chargaff. “The Composition of the Pentose Nucleic Acids of Yeast and Pancreas.” Journal of Biological Chemistry 176, no. 2 (1948): 715–34.
Chargaff, Erwin. “Chemical Specificity of Nucleic Acids and Mechanism of Their Enzymatic Degradation.” Experientia 6, no. 6 (June 15, 1950): 201–9.
Zamenhof, Stephen, and Erwin Chargaff. “Dissymmetry in Nucleotide Sequence of Desoxypentose Nucleic Acids.” Journal of Biological Chemistry 187, no. 1 (1950): 1–14.
Zamenhof, Stephen, George Brawerman, and Erwin Chargaff. “On the Desoxypentose Nucleic Acids from Several Microorganisms.” Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 9 (1952): 402–5.
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Episode 10
Austrian, Robert, and Colin M. MacLeod. “Acquisition of M Protein by Pneumococci through Transformation Reactions.” The Journal of Experimental Medicine 89, no. 4 (1948): 451–60.
Taylor, Harriett E. “Additive Effects of Certain Transforming Agents from Some Variants of Pneumococcus.” Journal of Experimental Medicine, n.d., 399–424.
Ephrussi-Taylor, Harriet. “Mutating Concepts of the Gene.” Journal of Heredity 43, no. 1 (January 1, 1952): 36. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a106255.
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Hotchkiss, R. D. “The Genetic Chemistry of the Pneumococcal Transformations.” Harvey Lectures 49 (1953-54): 124–44.
Ephrussi-Taylor, Harriett. “Current Status of Bacterial Transformations.” In Advances in Virus Research, 3:275–307. Elsevier, 1955.
Hotchkiss, Rollin D. “Bacterial Transformation.” Journal of Cellular and Comparative Physiology 45, no. S2 (1955): 1–22.
Hotchkiss, Rollin D., and Esther Weiss. “Transformed Bacteria.” Scientific American, 1956.
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Hamilton, L. D., R. K. Barclay, M. H. F. Wilkins, G. L. Brown, H. R. Wilson, D. A. Marvin, H. Ephrussi-Taylor, and N. S. Simmons. “Similarity of the Structure of DNA from a Variety of Sources.” The Journal of Biophysical and Biochemical Cytology 5, no. 3 (May 1, 1959): 397–404. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.5.3.397.
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Hotchkiss, Rollin D. “DNA in the Decade before the Double Helix.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 758, no. 1 (1995): 55–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1995.tb24809.x.
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Episode 11
Maaløe, Ole, and James D. Watson. “The Transfer of Radioactive Phosphorus from Parental to Progeny Phage.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 37, no. 8 (1951): 507–13.
Hershey, A. D. “Intracellular Phages in the Reproductive Cycle of Bacteriophage T2.” Annales de l’Institut Pasteur 84, no. 1 (1953): 99–111.
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Episode 12
Watson, J. D., and O. Maaløe. “Nucleic Acid Transfer from Parental to Progeny Bacteriophage.” Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 10 (1953): 432–42.
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Watson, James. “The Double Helix 50 Years Later: Implications for Psychiatry.” American Journal of Psychiatry 160, no. 4 (April 2003): 614–614. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.160.4.614.
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Olby, Robert. “Why Celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Double Helix?” Endeavour 27, no. 2 (2003): 80–84.
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Episode 14