Early responses to Avery et al.'s paper on DNA as hereditary material

Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences

Volumn 34, Issue 2, 2004, Pages 207-232

  Deichmann, Ute ^a  

^a Institut fur Genetik   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BACTERIA (MICROORGANISMS); NICOTIANA TABACUM; TOBACCO MOSAIC VIRUS;

EID: 4143146542     PISSN: 08909997     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1525/hsps.2004.34.2.207     Document Type: Article

References (125)

1. Emil Fischer, "Über Phosphorsäureester des Methylglucosids und Theophyllin-glucosids," Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft, 47 (1914), 3193-3205, on 3196; translation adapted from Bernhard Witkop, cited by Maclyn McCarty, "A fifty year perspective on the genetic role of DNA," in Donald Chambers, ed., DNA: The double helix (New York, 1995), 48-54, on 49-50.
2. Emil Fischer, "Über Phosphorsäureester des Methylglucosids und Theophyllin-glucosids," Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft, 47 (1914), 3193-3205, on 3196; translation adapted from Bernhard Witkop, cited by Maclyn McCarty, "A fifty year perspective on the genetic role of DNA," in Donald Chambers, ed., DNA: The double helix (New York, 1995), 48-54, on 49-50.
3. Oswald T. Avery, Colin M. MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty, "Studies on the nature of the substance inducing transformation of pneumococcal types. Induction of transformation by a desoxyribonucleic acid fraction isolated from Pneumococcus Type III," Journal of experimental medicine, 79 (1944), 137-158.
4. Gunther Stent, "Prematurity and uniqueness in scientific discovery," Scientific American, 227 (1972), 84-93, on 84-86.
5. H.V. Wyatt, "When does information become knowledge," Nature, 235 (1972), 86-89. Three years later, Wyatt linked Stent's use of "prematurity" and his own use of "information and knowledge" to suggest that "discovery can be premature if it is not capable of being extended experimentally because of technical reasons." Avery's work was premature because the technical means were not yet available to extend it into other systems; Wyatt, "Knowledge and prematurity: The journey from transformation to DNA," Perspectives in biology and medicine, 18 (1975), 149-156.
6. H.V. Wyatt, "When does information become knowledge," Nature, 235 (1972), 86-89. Three years later, Wyatt linked Stent's use of "prematurity" and his own use of "information and knowledge" to suggest that "discovery can be premature if it is not capable of being extended experimentally because of technical reasons." Avery's work was premature because the technical means were not yet available to extend it into other systems; Wyatt, "Knowledge and prematurity: The journey from transformation to DNA," Perspectives in biology and medicine, 18 (1975), 149-156.
7. An example is James Watson et al., Molecular biology of the gene (4th edn., 1987), 70: "At that time (in the 1930s and 40s) the vast majority of biochemists still believed that genes were proteins. It therefore came as a great surprise when in 1944, after some ten years of research, American microbiologist Oswald T. Avery and his colleagues Colin M. MacLeod and Maclyn McCarty, at the Rockefeller Institute in New York, made the momentous announcement that the active genetic principle was DNA."
8. Joshua Lederberg, "Reply to H.V. Wyatt," Nature, 239 (1972), 234; http://profiles.NLM.nih.gov; Joshua Lederberg, "The transformation of genetics by DNA: An anniversary celebration of Avery, Macleod and McCarty (1944)," Genetics, 136 (1994), 425-426.
9. Joshua Lederberg, "Reply to H.V. Wyatt," Nature, 239 (1972), 234; http://profiles.NLM.nih.gov; Joshua Lederberg, "The transformation of genetics by DNA: An anniversary celebration of Avery, Macleod and McCarty (1944)," Genetics, 136 (1994), 425-426.
10. Joshua Lederberg, "Reply to H.V. Wyatt," Nature, 239 (1972), 234; http://profiles.NLM.nih.gov; Joshua Lederberg, "The transformation of genetics by DNA: An anniversary celebration of Avery, Macleod and McCarty (1944)," Genetics, 136 (1994), 425-426.
11. Leslie C. Dunn, A short history of genetics (New York, 1965), 225.
12. Cf. Robert Olby, "Quiet debut for the double helix," Nature, 421 (2003), 402-405.
13. The importance of organized critical skepticism towards new discovery in maintaining the integrity of science is emphasized by Robert K. Merton, The sociology of science (Chicago, 1973). Lederberg (ref. 6) applied Merton's view to the reception of Avery's paper, thereby rejecting the claim of its prematurity.
14. The scientific influence of Avery et al.'s 1944 discovery has been dealt with among others, by Maclyn McCarty, The transforming principle. Discovering that genes are made of DNA (New York, 1985); McCarty (ref. 1) and interview with István Hargittai, in Hargittai, Candid science II. Interviews with famous biomedical scientists (London, 2002), 16-31; Rene J. Dubos, The professor, the institute, and DNA. Oswald T. Avery, his life and scientific achievements (New York, 1976); Rollin Hotchkiss, "The decade before the double helix," in Chambers (ref. 1), 55-73; Stent (ref. 3); Stent, "The aperiodic crystal of heredity," in Chambers (ref. 1), 25-31; Lederberg, "What the double helix has meant for basic biomedical science," in Chambers (ref. 1), 182-193; Lederberg (ref. 6), Lederberg, in Hargittai (ref. 10), 37-39.
15. The scientific influence of Avery et al.'s 1944 discovery has been dealt with among others, by Maclyn McCarty, The transforming principle. Discovering that genes are made of DNA (New York, 1985); McCarty (ref. 1) and interview with István Hargittai, in Hargittai, Candid science II. Interviews with famous biomedical scientists (London, 2002), 16-31; Rene J. Dubos, The professor, the institute, and DNA. Oswald T. Avery, his life and scientific achievements (New York, 1976); Rollin Hotchkiss, "The decade before the double helix," in Chambers (ref. 1), 55-73; Stent (ref. 3); Stent, "The aperiodic crystal of heredity," in Chambers (ref. 1), 25-31; Lederberg, "What the double helix has meant for basic biomedical science," in Chambers (ref. 1), 182-193; Lederberg (ref. 6), Lederberg, in Hargittai (ref. 10), 37-39.
16. The scientific influence of Avery et al.'s 1944 discovery has been dealt with among others, by Maclyn McCarty, The transforming principle. Discovering that genes are made of DNA (New York, 1985); McCarty (ref. 1) and interview with István Hargittai, in Hargittai, Candid science II. Interviews with famous biomedical scientists (London, 2002), 16-31; Rene J. Dubos, The professor, the institute, and DNA. Oswald T. Avery, his life and scientific achievements (New York, 1976); Rollin Hotchkiss, "The decade before the double helix," in Chambers (ref. 1), 55-73; Stent (ref. 3); Stent, "The aperiodic crystal of heredity," in Chambers (ref. 1), 25-31; Lederberg, "What the double helix has meant for basic biomedical science," in Chambers (ref. 1), 182-193; Lederberg (ref. 6), Lederberg, in Hargittai (ref. 10), 37-39.
17. The scientific influence of Avery et al.'s 1944 discovery has been dealt with among others, by Maclyn McCarty, The transforming principle. Discovering that genes are made of DNA (New York, 1985); McCarty (ref. 1) and interview with István Hargittai, in Hargittai, Candid science II. Interviews with famous biomedical scientists (London, 2002), 16-31; Rene J. Dubos, The professor, the institute, and DNA. Oswald T. Avery, his life and scientific achievements (New York, 1976); Rollin Hotchkiss, "The decade before the double helix," in Chambers (ref. 1), 55-73; Stent (ref. 3); Stent, "The aperiodic crystal of heredity," in Chambers (ref. 1), 25-31; Lederberg, "What the double helix has meant for basic biomedical science," in Chambers (ref. 1), 182-193; Lederberg (ref. 6), Lederberg, in Hargittai (ref. 10), 37-39.
18. The scientific influence of Avery et al.'s 1944 discovery has been dealt with among others, by Maclyn McCarty, The transforming principle. Discovering that genes are made of DNA (New York, 1985); McCarty (ref. 1) and interview with István Hargittai, in Hargittai, Candid science II. Interviews with famous biomedical scientists (London, 2002), 16-31; Rene J. Dubos, The professor, the institute, and DNA. Oswald T. Avery, his life and scientific achievements (New York, 1976); Rollin Hotchkiss, "The decade before the double helix," in Chambers (ref. 1), 55-73; Stent (ref. 3); Stent, "The aperiodic crystal of heredity," in Chambers (ref. 1), 25-31; Lederberg, "What the double helix has meant for basic biomedical science," in Chambers (ref. 1), 182-193; Lederberg (ref. 6), Lederberg, in Hargittai (ref. 10), 37-39.
19. The scientific influence of Avery et al.'s 1944 discovery has been dealt with among others, by Maclyn McCarty, The transforming principle. Discovering that genes are made of DNA (New York, 1985); McCarty (ref. 1) and interview with István Hargittai, in Hargittai, Candid science II. Interviews with famous biomedical scientists (London, 2002), 16-31; Rene J. Dubos, The professor, the institute, and DNA. Oswald T. Avery, his life and scientific achievements (New York, 1976); Rollin Hotchkiss, "The decade before the double helix," in Chambers (ref. 1), 55-73; Stent (ref. 3); Stent, "The aperiodic crystal of heredity," in Chambers (ref. 1), 25-31; Lederberg, "What the double helix has meant for basic biomedical science," in Chambers (ref. 1), 182-193; Lederberg (ref. 6), Lederberg, in Hargittai (ref. 10), 37-39.
20. The scientific influence of Avery et al.'s 1944 discovery has been dealt with among others, by Maclyn McCarty, The transforming principle. Discovering that genes are made of DNA (New York, 1985); McCarty (ref. 1) and interview with István Hargittai, in Hargittai, Candid science II. Interviews with famous biomedical scientists (London, 2002), 16-31; Rene J. Dubos, The professor, the institute, and DNA. Oswald T. Avery, his life and scientific achievements (New York, 1976); Rollin Hotchkiss, "The decade before the double helix," in Chambers (ref. 1), 55-73; Stent (ref. 3); Stent, "The aperiodic crystal of heredity," in Chambers (ref. 1), 25-31; Lederberg, "What the double helix has meant for basic biomedical science," in Chambers (ref. 1), 182-193; Lederberg (ref. 6), Lederberg, in Hargittai (ref. 10), 37-39.
21. The scientific influence of Avery et al.'s 1944 discovery has been dealt with among others, by Maclyn McCarty, The transforming principle. Discovering that genes are made of DNA (New York, 1985); McCarty (ref. 1) and interview with István Hargittai, in Hargittai, Candid science II. Interviews with famous biomedical scientists (London, 2002), 16-31; Rene J. Dubos, The professor, the institute, and DNA. Oswald T. Avery, his life and scientific achievements (New York, 1976); Rollin Hotchkiss, "The decade before the double helix," in Chambers (ref. 1), 55-73; Stent (ref. 3); Stent, "The aperiodic crystal of heredity," in Chambers (ref. 1), 25-31; Lederberg, "What the double helix has meant for basic biomedical science," in Chambers (ref. 1), 182-193; Lederberg (ref. 6), Lederberg, in Hargittai (ref. 10), 37-39.
22. Useful histories are Robert Olby, The path to the double helix. The discovery of DNA (Seattle, 1974); Raphael Falk, "The gene-A concept in tension," in Peter Beurton, Raphael Falk, and Hans-Joerg Rheinberger, The concept of the gene in development and evolution (Cambridge, 2000), 317-348, and Elof Axel Carlson, The gene (Ames, 1989 [uncorrected reprint from 1966]), 248-249. Among the examples that Carlson mentions is genetic research on the position effect, dominant in the 1930s. Interest in it disappeared almost completely in the 1940s and early 1950s, but the rise of the operon model gave this phenomenon a renaissance.
23. Useful histories are Robert Olby, The path to the double helix. The discovery of DNA (Seattle, 1974); Raphael Falk, "The gene-A concept in tension," in Peter Beurton, Raphael Falk, and Hans-Joerg Rheinberger, The concept of the gene in development and evolution (Cambridge, 2000), 317-348, and Elof Axel Carlson, (Ames, 1989 [uncorrected reprint from 1966]), 248-249. Among the examples that Carlson mentions is genetic research on the position effect, dominant in the 1930s. Interest in it disappeared almost completely in the 1940s and early 1950s, but the rise of the operon model gave this phenomenon a renaissance.
24. Useful histories are Robert Olby, The path to the double helix. The discovery of DNA (Seattle, 1974); Raphael Falk, "The gene-A concept in tension," in Peter Beurton, Raphael Falk, and Hans-Joerg Rheinberger, The concept of the gene in development and evolution (Cambridge, 2000), 317-348, and Elof Axel Carlson, The gene (Ames, 1989 [uncorrected reprint from 1966]), 248-249. Among the examples that Carlson mentions is genetic research on the position effect, dominant in the 1930s. Interest in it disappeared almost completely in the 1940s and early 1950s, but the rise of the operon model gave this phenomenon a renaissance.
25. Wilson (1896), quoted from Alfred H. Sturtevant, A history of genetics (New York, 1965), 104.
26. This was due to the failure to see stains in the highly condensed strands of lampbrush chromosomes, which essentially contain a single DNA duplex per loop axis. Only in the 1930s did Jean Brachet succeed in demonstrating the persistence of Feulgen-stained axial chromosomal constituents in germ line cells throughout meiotic prophase. I thank Eric Davidson for this information.
27. Edmund Beecher Wilson, The cell in development and heredity (3rd. edn., New York, 1925), 351, 653.
28. J.B. Leathes, "Function and design," Science, 64 (1926), 387-399, on 389.
29. Phoebus A. Levene and Lawrence W. Brass, Nucleic acids (New York, 1931).
30. Joseph Fruton, Proteins, enzymes, genes. The interplay of chemistry and biology (New Haven, 1999), 210-212.
31. Bernard Barber, "Resistance by scientists to scientific discovery," Science, 134 (1961), 596-602, on 598-599; Stent (ref. 3), 86; Harriet Zuckerman and Joshua Lederberg, "Postmature scientific discovery," Nature, 324 (1986), 629-631. According to Zuckerman and Lederberg, premature discoveries are those that scientists "do not attend to in a timely way, and are retrospectively described as having been 'ahead of their time.'"
32. Bernard Barber, "Resistance by scientists to scientific discovery," Science, 134 (1961), 596-602, on 598-599; Stent (ref. 3), 86; Harriet Zuckerman and Joshua Lederberg, "Postmature scientific discovery," Nature, 324 (1986), 629-631. According to Zuckerman and Lederberg, premature discoveries are those that scientists "do not attend to in a timely way, and are retrospectively described as having been 'ahead of their time.'"
33. Bernard Barber, "Resistance by scientists to scientific discovery," Science, 134 (1961), 596-602, on 598-599; Stent (ref. 3), 86; Harriet Zuckerman and Joshua Lederberg, "Postmature scientific discovery," Nature, 324 (1986), 629-631. According to Zuckerman and Lederberg, premature discoveries are those that scientists "do not attend to in a timely way, and are retrospectively described as having been 'ahead of their time.'"
34. Wilhelm Johannsen, Elemente der exakten Erblichkeitslehre (Jena, 1909), 124-125.
35. Raphael Falk emphasizes that Morgan and his collaborators had different opinions concerning interest in the physical nature of the gene, which was endorsed by Muller and to some extent Bridges but rejected by Morgan and to some extent Sturtevant. According to Falk, "What is a gene?" Studies in the history and philosophy of science, 17:2 (1986), 133-173, and Falk (ref. 11), Morgan's statement was a response to Muller's claim.
36. Alfred Barthelmess, Vererbungswissenschaft (Freiburg, 1952), 337-340.
37. Rejecting the notion of particulate genes, the geneticist Richard Goldschmidt proposed that at specific sites of chromosomes there were different catalytic activities, a highly speculative non-productive theory.
38. H.J. Muller, "Variation due to change in the individual gene," American naturalist, 56 (1922), 32-50, on 48-49.
39. Olby (ref. 11), 105-107; Edgar Knapp et al., "Quantitative Analyse der mutationsauslösenden Wirkung monochromatischen UV-Lichtes," Naturwissenschaften, 27 (1939), 304; Alexander Hollaender and C.W. Emmons, "Wavelength dpendence of mutation production in the ultra-violet with special emphasis on fungi," CSHSQB, 9 (1941), 179-186.
40. Olby (ref. 11), 105-107; Edgar Knapp et al., "Quantitative Analyse der mutationsauslösenden Wirkung monochromatischen UV-Lichtes," Naturwissenschaften, 27 (1939), 304; Alexander Hollaender and C.W. Emmons, "Wavelength dpendence of mutation production in the ultra-violet with special emphasis on fungi," CSHSQB, 9 (1941), 179-186.
41. Olby (ref. 11), 105-107; Edgar Knapp et al., "Quantitative Analyse der mutationsauslösenden Wirkung monochromatischen UV-Lichtes," Naturwissenschaften, 27 (1939), 304; Alexander Hollaender and C.W. Emmons, "Wavelength dpendence of mutation production in the ultra-violet with special emphasis on fungi," CSHSQB, 9 (1941), 179-186.
42. H.J. Muller, "Resumé and perspectives," CSHSQB, 9 (1941), 303.
43. Cf. ref. 10, chapt. 10.
44. Lederberg, (ref. 6).
45. McCarty (ref. 10), 77.
46. Lederberg, (ref. 6).
47. Letter of 17 May 1943, The Oswald Avery Collection, http://profiles.nlm. nih.gov/CC/
48. Wyatt (ref.4), 87.
49. McCarty (ref. 10), 168.
50. Seymour Benzer was the first to give (in 1955) a molecular definition of the functional concepts of transmission, recombination and mutation; Philip Kitcher, "Genes," British journal for the philosophy of science, 33 (1982), 337-359; Falk (ref. 15), 327-328.
51. Seymour Benzer was the first to give (in 1955) a molecular definition of the functional concepts of transmission, recombination and mutation; Philip Kitcher, "Genes," British journal for the philosophy of science, 33 (1982), 337-359; Falk (ref. 15), 327-328.
52. Hotchkiss (ref. 14), 55.
53. Lederberg (ref. 10), 184. Lederberg called this notion a "dogma," which was challenged by Avery et al. in 1944.
54. A crucial set of base analyses that Levene and Bass used in their textbook on DNA to show the fit of these analyses to the proportions calculated for a simple tetranucleotide was not empirically found by Steudel (in 1906), as the authors claimed, but calculated by him from theory for a tetranucleotide salt; Olby (ref. 11), 87; and Hotchkiss (ref. 10), 61. Hotchkiss, who knew Levene personally, attributed this misquotation from Steudel to careless zeal.
55. McCarty (ref. 10), 145.
56. Robert Olby emphasized that the nature of the gene, gene expression, and specificity were treated differently after DNA became recognized as the gene material. Olby, "The molecular revolution in biology," Olby et al., Companion to the history of modern science (London, 1990), 503-520.
57. Sir Henry Dale, "Anniversary address to the Royal Society," 1945, quoted from István Hargittai, The road to Stockholm. Nobel prizes, science, and scientists (New York, 2002), 225.
58. Hermann Muller, "The gene," Royal Society of London, Proceedings, B 134 (1947), 137, on 22.
59. André Boivin, "Directed mutation in colon bacilli, by an inducing principle of desoxyribonucleic nature: Its meaning for the general biochemistry of heredity," CSHSQB, 12 (1947), 7-17, on 12. The assumption of directed mutations was common in the French scientific tradition. Unlike biologists like Monod, who interpreted transformation as a result of mutation, Boivin accepted that it probably arose from a gene transfer.
60. CSHSQB, 12 (1947), 15.
61. Erwin Chargaff, "On the nucleoproteins and nucleic acids of microorganisms," CSHSQB, 12 (1947), 28-34, on 29.
62. Otto Westphal, "Typumwandlungen bei Pneumococcen," Angewandte Chemie, 59 (1947), 69-70.
63. Joshua Lederberg, "Problems in microbial genetics," Heredity, 2 (1948), 145-198, on 182.
64. Rollin Hotchkiss, "Transfer of penicillin resistance in Pneumococci by the desoxyribonucleate derived from resistant cultures," CSHSQB, 16 (1951), 457-461.
65. Maclyn McCarty and Oswald Avery, "Studies on the chemical nature of the substance inducing transformation of pneumococcal types (II)," Journal of experimental medicine, 83 (1946), 89-96; M. McCarty, "Purification and properties of desoxyribonuclease isolated from beef pancreas," Journal of general physiology, 29 (1946), 123-139.
66. Maclyn McCarty and Oswald Avery, "Studies on the chemical nature of the substance inducing transformation of pneumococcal types (II)," Journal of experimental medicine, 83 (1946), 89-96; M. McCarty, "Purification and properties of desoxyribonuclease isolated from beef pancreas," Journal of general physiology, 29 (1946), 123-139.
67. McCarty (ref. 10), chapt. 10.
68. There are a number of publications for example in Compte rendus, starting from 1945, André Boivin, Roger Vendrely, and Yvonne Lehoult, "L'acide thymonucléique hautement polymerise, principe capable de conditioner la spécificité sériologique et l'équipement enzymatique des Bactéries. Conséquences pour la biochemie de l'hérédité, Compte rendus, 221 (1945), 646-648; A. Boivin, "Directed mutation in colon bacilli, by an inducing principle of desoxyribonucleic nature: Its meaning for the general biochemistry of heredity," CSHSQB (1947), 7-17; A. Boivin, R. and Colette Vendrely, "L'acide désoxyribonucléique du noyau cellulaire, dépositaire des caractères héréditaires; arguments d'ordre analytique," Compte rendus, 226 (1948), 1061-1063.
69. There are a number of publications for example in Compte rendus, starting from 1945, André Boivin, Roger Vendrely, and Yvonne Lehoult, "L'acide thymonucléique hautement polymerise, principe capable de conditioner la spécificité sériologique et l'équipement enzymatique des Bactéries. Conséquences pour la biochemie de l'hérédité, Compte rendus, 221 (1945), 646-648; A. Boivin, "Directed mutation in colon bacilli, by an inducing principle of desoxyribonucleic nature: Its meaning for the general biochemistry of heredity," CSHSQB (1947), 7-17; A. Boivin, R. and Colette Vendrely, "L'acide désoxyribonucléique du noyau cellulaire, dépositaire des caractères héréditaires; arguments d'ordre analytique," Compte rendus, 226 (1948), 1061-1063.
70. There are a number of publications for example in Compte rendus, starting from 1945, André Boivin, Roger Vendrely, and Yvonne Lehoult, "L'acide thymonucléique hautement polymerise, principe capable de conditioner la spécificité sériologique et l'équipement enzymatique des Bactéries. Conséquences pour la biochemie de l'hérédité, Compte rendus, 221 (1945), 646-648; A. Boivin, "Directed mutation in colon bacilli, by an inducing principle of desoxyribonucleic nature: Its meaning for the general biochemistry of heredity," CSHSQB (1947), 7-17; A. Boivin, R. and Colette Vendrely, "L'acide désoxyribonucléique du noyau cellulaire, dépositaire des caractères héréditaires; arguments d'ordre analytique," Compte rendus, 226 (1948), 1061-1063.
71. Boivin et al., "thymonucléique," Comptes rendus, 221 (ref. 49), on 648.
72. Hotchkiss (ref. 10), 56. These unsuccessful attempts to reproduce transformation in E. coli were not published. Boivin died too early (in 1949 at age 54) to react. It is difficult to transform E. coli by isolated DNA. The exact reasons for the different susceptibilities of Pneumococcus and E. coli to transformation are unknown.
73. Among them were Ephrussi-Taylor, Alexander and Leidy, and Zamenhof. Hotchkiss summarized the major transformation experiments by DNA up to 1954 in ref. 10, 63-67.
74. Lederberg in Hargittai (ref. 10), 38-41.
75. Wyatt (ref. 4), 152.
76. Hotchkiss (ref. 10), 58-61.
77. Chargaff (ref. 43) 32.
78. Stephen Zamenhof and Erwin Chargaff, "Studies on the diversity and the native state of desoxypentose nucleic acids," Journal of biological chemistry, 186 (1950), 205-219.
79. Frank Macfarlane Burnet, "A genetic approach to variation in Influenza Virus," Journal of general microbiology, 5 (1951), 46-53; Zuckerman and Lederberg (ref. 18).
80. Frank Macfarlane Burnet, "A genetic approach to variation in Influenza Virus," Journal of general microbiology, 5 (1951), 46-53; Zuckerman and Lederberg (ref. 18).
81. Lederberg in Hargittai (ref. 10), 41.
82. Joshua Lederberg and Edward L. Tatum, "Gene recombination in Escherichia coli," Nature, 158 (1946), 558.
83. Joshua Lederberg,"Gene recombination and linked segregations on Escherichia coli," Genetics, 32 (1947), 505-525, on 520-521.
84. Maurice Wilkins, "DNA at King's College, London," in Chambers (ref. 1), 200-204.
85. James Watson, "The double helix (1968)," in Gunther Stent, ed., The double helix. Text, commentary, reviews, original papers (New York 1980), 17.
86. Olby (ref.11) 112-115.
87. H. Friedrich-Freksa, "Kräfte beim Aufbau biologischer Struktureinheiten," FIAT review of German science 1939-1946, Biophysics, Part I (Wiesbaden, 1948), 44-49.
88. John Burdon Sanderson Haldane, "The formal genetics of man," Royal Society of London, Proceedings, B 135 (1947), 147-170, on 167.
89. John Burdon Sanderson Haldane, "Introduction to the Proceedings of the Biochemical Society," The biochemical journal, 44 (1949), xv-xvi.
90. Boivin (ref. 41), 12.
91. Lily E. Kay, The molecular vision of life (Oxford, 1993), 181-183.
92. Leslie C. Dunn, ed., Genetics in the 20th century. Essays on the progress of genetics during its first 50 years (New York, 1951).
93. Lederberg (ref. 10) 185.
94. Kurt Wallenfels, personal communication, 15 May 1992. According to Wallenfels, Oehlkers did not understand his announcement of a course on the chemical basis of heredity at Freiburg University in 1957.
95. Elof Axel Carlson, "Letter," Scientific American, 228 (1973), 8.
96. Jacques Monod, "The phenomenon of enzymatic adaptation and its bearings on problems of genetics and cellular differentiation," Growth, 11 (1947), 223-289, on 283.
97. Salvador Luria, "Recent advances in bacterial genetics," Bacterial reviews, 11 (1947), 1-40, on 24.
98. Alfred D. Hershey, "Spontaneous mutations in bacterial cells," CSHSQB, 11 (1946), 67-76.
99. Dubos (ref. 10), 158.
100. Max Delbrück, "A theory of autocatalytic synthesis of polypeptides and its application to the problem of chromosome reproduction," CSHSQB, 9 (1941), 122-126.
101. C.A. Knight, "Nucleoproteins and virus activity," CSHSQB, 12 (1947), 115-120, on 115; G. Schramm, "Chemie der Viren," Klinische Wochenschrift, 31 (1953), 198-205, on 199.
102. C.A. Knight, "Nucleoproteins and virus activity," CSHSQB, 12 (1947), 115-120, on 115; G. Schramm, "Chemie der Viren," Klinische Wochenschrift, 31 (1953), 198-205, on 199.
103. Erwin Chargaff, Heraclitean fire (New York, 1978), 85.
104. Hargittai (ref. 39), 226.
105. The Nobel Foundation and W. Odelberg, eds., Nobel: The man and his prizes (3rd edn., New York, 1972), 201.
106. Alred E. Mirsky and Hans Ris, "Variable and constant components of chromosomes," Nature, 163 (1949), 666-667.
107. "Genes identified. Chemical composition disclosed by Dr. Mirsky at symposium," The New York Times (23 Jan 1949).
108. Alfred Mirsky, "Some chemical aspects of the cell nucleus," in Dunn (ref. 70), 127-133.
109. Eric Davidson about Alfred Mirsky, personal communication, 28 Feb 2002. McCarty's description of relationships between the laboratories at the Rockefeller Institute does not indicate that Avery's lab nurtured any hostility toward other labs, but points to good relationships with Max Bergmann, and also for some time with Mirsky. They collaborated on an experiment to test Mirsky's eukaryotic nucleoprotein preparation for transformation activity. The relationship, however, came to an end when Mirsky thought that his contribution was not adequately appreciated. According to McCarty (ref. 10), 148, "Mirsky placed a much higher evaluation on his contribution to our work than we did.... [T]his never seemed to me an adequate basis for the breach or for his assuming the role, as he did, of the principal public skeptic on the subject of the DNA nature of the transforming substance."
110. Personal communication, 28 Feb 2002.
111. Muller (ref. 40), 23.
112. Max Bergmann, ca. 1943, notes of an interview by Maclyn McCarty, in McCarty (ref. 10), 163.
113. Mirsky in a discussion of Boivin's paper, in CSHSQB, 12 (1947), 15.
114. Sewall Wright, "Genes as physiological agents," The American naturalist, 79 (1945), 280-303, on 290.
115. Chargaff (ref.43) 32.
116. Bernard D. Davis,"Molecular genetics, microbiology, and prehistory," Bioessays, 9 (1988), 130-131.
117. I b i d.
118. Kenneth F. Schaffner, "Antireductionism and molecular biology," Science, 157 (1967), 644-647, and "The Watson-Crick Model and reductionism," British journal for the philosophy of science, 20 (1969), 325-348; Philip Kitcher (ref. 33); Michael Ruse, Philosophy of biology today (New York, 1988), 23-42; Kim Sterelny and Paul E. Griffith, Sex and death. An introduction to philosophy of biology (Chicago, 1999), 137-148.
119. Kenneth F. Schaffner, "Antireductionism and molecular biology," Science, 157 (1967), 644-647, and "The Watson-Crick Model and reductionism," British journal for the philosophy of science, 20 (1969), 325-348; Philip Kitcher (ref. 33); Michael Ruse, Philosophy of biology today (New York, 1988), 23-42; Kim Sterelny and Paul E. Griffith, Sex and death. An introduction to philosophy of biology (Chicago, 1999), 137-148.
120. Kenneth F. Schaffner, "Antireductionism and molecular biology," Science, 157 (1967), 644-647, and "The Watson-Crick Model and reductionism," British journal for the philosophy of science, 20 (1969), 325-348; Philip Kitcher (ref. 33); Michael Ruse, Philosophy of biology today (New York, 1988), 23-42; Kim Sterelny and Paul E. Griffith, Sex and death. An introduction to philosophy of biology (Chicago, 1999), 137-148.
121. Kenneth F. Schaffner, "Antireductionism and molecular biology," Science, 157 (1967), 644-647, and "The Watson-Crick Model and reductionism," British journal for the philosophy of science, 20 (1969), 325-348; Philip Kitcher (ref. 33); Michael Ruse, Philosophy of biology today (New York, 1988), 23-42; Kim Sterelny and Paul E. Griffith, Sex and death. An introduction to philosophy of biology (Chicago, 1999), 137-148.
122. Kenneth F. Schaffner, "Antireductionism and molecular biology," Science, 157 (1967), 644-647, and "The Watson-Crick Model and reductionism," British journal for the philosophy of science, 20 (1969), 325-348; Philip Kitcher (ref. 33); Michael Ruse, Philosophy of biology today (New York, 1988), 23-42; Kim Sterelny and Paul E. Griffith, Sex and death. An introduction to philosophy of biology (Chicago, 1999), 137-148.
123. Olby (ref. 38), 503-520.
124. The earliest textbook of genetics that cited the experiment including its genetic implications I found is Theodosius Dobzhansky, Genetics and the origin of species (3rd edn., New York, 1951), 46. In a section about transformation of serological types he writes, "Avery et al. (1944) have isolated the 'transforming principle'....By means of a series of fractionations, they obtained from the vaccine a highly viscous colorless substance which proved to be a highly polymerized desoxyribonucleic acid with little or no impurities. Desoxyribonucleic acid is, of course, one of the principal constituents of chromosomes."
125. Cf. Zuckerman and Lederberg (ref. 18), 631, "what scientists define as problematic and worthy of investigation are the products of interactions between cognitive and social processes."