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Discovery Of Dna Essay

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The discovery of DNA dated back to the 1800’s. On 1869 doctor Johann Friedrich Miescher discovered a new substance he believed resided in the cell nucleus much different from that of proteins. He was unaware of the importance of his discovery even after he died in 1895. Miescher is not credited for the discovery of DNA because of his personality of being way too much of a perfectionist, late to publish his discoveries, and his switch from one work to another.
Miescher discovered DNA on accident. He first set out to find the structure of white blood cells and how they worked, gathering pus from bandages from the near hospital as material. In his attempt the separate the material from the bandages using different solutions he ended up getting …show more content…

This comes to later name the nucleic acid from nuclein to DNA and RNA due to its sugar. Erwin Chargaff in later years comes to the conclusion that everyone’s genetic code is different. Yet still at this time no one truly understood how DNA looked like compared to her twin sister RNA. Many thought that the secret to live resided in the shape that DNA took.
In the 1950’s a scientists took the clearest picture of DNA as a spiral helix helping reveal its structure. Rosalind Elise Franklin was a female scientists specializing in x-ray crystallography. She learned x-ray diffracting techniques and took several pictures of crystalized DNA. During her era, no one had yet cracked its secret structure. She was responsible for making the DNA discovery in King’s College.
While working at King’s College there was a misunderstanding and her personality caused problems with her superior Maurice Wilkins. He originally wanted Franklin as his assistant but she was too much of an independent woman that she worked by her self. Although they were suppose to be a team in the discovery of DNA’s structure they worked independently. During her research with high concentrations of radiation, and several adjustments she successfully came down to two clear pictures of DNA. Picture A was a more hydrated picture of DNA while the other; B clearly showed an x. She focused on the first picture giving her report at Kings’. After several more attempts she took photo

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