DNA is a nucleic acid, it is a kind of instruction manual that resides in the cells of all living beings, and even in types of viruses. Eukaryotic organisms or those that have a nucleus in their cells store DNA material in the nucleus. These instructions tell each cell how to develop and what functions to perform. Prokaryotic organisms, such as archaea and bacteria, do not have a nucleus, so they store this essential information in their cytoplasm. DNA is an extraordinary material, and scientists have been studying it for over a century to shed light on the myriad and diverse natural phenomena of life. But who discovered DNA?

Introduction of DNA to scientific research

DNA was first detected in 1869 by a Swiss physician, Friedrich Miescher, who examined pus from surgical wounds very closely and discovered a strange microscopic substance in the nucleus of cells. He named what he found nuclein because it was in the nucleus. Was it Friedrich Miescher who discovered DNA? Technically, yes. He was the first person to recognize DNA as a compelling substance within a cell to study, but even though he discovered it, he didn’t know what it was.

The history of DNA

In 1919, Phoebus Levene identified the base, the sugar, and the phosphate, and called it a nucleotide unit. He went on to suggest that DNA could be linked to nucleotide units, retained with phosphate groups. William Astbury in 1937 provided evidence that DNA had a regular structure. The structure itself remained unknown, although scientists were still intrigued by DNA and struggled with the puzzle.

Genetic link

In 1952, Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase confirmed that DNA was connected to genetics and heredity. The famous Hershey-Chase experiment was actually only confirming what Oswald Avery had brought to light in 1944. Although Avery had already made this observation and even demonstrated it, in science things need to be replicated many times to be considered. “facts”.

The next step in DNA history is probably the most famous because it involves Watson and Crick. The couple of James D. Watson and Francis Crick studied some X-ray diffraction images that Rosalind Franklin had taken, and came up with some groundbreaking results that changed the course of genetic research forever and led to the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. What Crick and Watson found is that the structure of DNA is actually a double helix. Once this was understood, an advanced study of the nature of DNA could be conducted. However, things are still a bit confusing as to who discovered the DNA, because at the same time that Watson and Crick were publishing their findings, a man named Maurice Wilkins also published a paper on the structure of DNA. Watson, Crick, and Wilson ended up receiving Nobel Prizes for this important discovery, but there are still many lively debates about who really deserved the honor. Meanwhile, Watson and Crick are more widely mentioned in textbooks, making them the most alive in the minds of the general public as the scientists who discovered the structure of DNA.