In their recent book, "What is Life", Lynn Margolis and Dorion Sagan with a forward by Niles Eldridge (all respectable scientific writers) and published in 2000 by the University of California Press, opens with the statement: "Half a century ago, before the discovery of DNA ...." The reference is to the 1953 paper by Watson & Crick in which they proposed the molecular structure of DNA and for which they eventually received the Nobel Prize (Watson JD and Crick FHC, Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acid, Nature, 1953, Vol. 171, Pg. 737). That paper reports the discovery of the structure of DNA not the discovery of DNA, itself. The discovery was made, almost 100 years earlier in 1869, by the little known, German scientist, Friedrich Miescher. Miescher's work was a phenomenal accomplishment, given the chemistry of the time; and his accomplishment is routinely overlooked in reciting the history of genetics.

Margulis and Sagan are not alone in this serious neglect. In another recent paper in the prestigious journal, Science, "Genomics: Journey to the Center of Biology" (Science, 10 March 2000, Vol. 287, Pg. 1777-82), the history of genomic science is reviewed. The authors, Lander & Weinberg, cite all the way back to Hippocrates, Aristotle, Leewenhoek, Mendel, and up through the most recent work of Strittmatter, Ting, and others; but still no mention of Miescher. And the same oversight is made my many other scientific authorities.

Here are the facts. In 1866, Gregor Mendel reported his experiments with peas and his formulation of the general laws of heredity. It was published in an obscure journal and remained unknown for almost 40 years. However, at about the same time as Mendel's report, Miescher, a young chemist in the lab of Hoppe-Seyler at the University of Tübingen, Germany, initiated experiments in the chemical composition of the nucleus. This was a radical divergence from the prevailing notions of the time, when the nucleus was of little interest, and it was assumed that the only biological chemicals were fats, sugars, and protein. Using a dilute acid, Miescher disintegrated pus cells which he collected from the adjacent hospital, finding that the nuclei settled at the bottom of the flash. That lead him to conclude that the nuclear material had a specific gravity greater than protein and other constituents and was a different substance which he called "nuclein". Further, he proved that this substance was rich in phosphorus, and therefore a unique substance. His findings were so exceptional, that the lab director withheld publication for 3 years during which time he personally reproduced and confirmed the experiment. (Miescher JF; Uber die chemische Zusammensetzung der Eiterzellen; Med-chem. Untersuchungen; 1871, Vol.4, Pg.441-460).

Miescher went on to spend the rest of his short life, expanding this original work. Years later, in a letter to one of his professors, he wrote: "I know better than anyone else that my work is only the preliminary study to a future histochemistry." Little did he understand the eventual significance of his contribution. Melvin Calvin, the scientist who discovered the biochemistry of how photosynthesis works, used as a motto for his lab that when you have all of the facts in front of you, science is easy to do; but when you have only some of the facts, and of those, you are not sure which ones are correct, then science is a real challenge. From that perspective, Miescher was one of the great scientific geniuses. By the time Watson & Crick came along, virtually all of the facts were in place.

Friedrich Miescher (1844-1895) A brief biography.

Slide presentation on the history of DNA.

References:

Greenstein JP; Friedrich Miescher 1844-1895, founder of nuclear chemistry; Sci. Monthly 57: 523, 1943

James J; Miescher's Discoveries of 1869 - A Centenary of Nuclear Chemistry; The Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry; 1970, Vol. 18, No. 3, Pg. 217-219.

Virginia Morell, Science 25 June pg. 2107, 1999 "Charles Darwin ... wrote 100 years before DNA was discovered."

Gregor Mendel' original paper in the Journal of the Brunn Society of Natural Science (Verh. Naturforsch. Brunn, vol. 4, page 3, 1866)

1944 Avery OT, MacLeod CM, and McCarty; Journal of Experimental Medicine, bol 79, p.137, 1944) provides the definitive proof that nuclear DNA is the hereditary substance, amplified by Hershey-Chase in 1952.