DNA Papers #1: Friedrich Miescher

Perspectives on Science

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 “Ueber 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 For more information and resources on this topic, and others, please see https://www.chstm.org/video/144