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Saturday, September 06, 2008 |
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| "Rockefeller Institute in New York showed that hereditary traits could be
transmitted from one bacterial cell to another by purified DNA molecules.
Given the fact that DNA was known to occur in the chromosomes of all
cells, Avery's experiments strongly suggested that future experiments would
show that all genes were composed of DNA."
James D. Watson, Nobel laureate, in The Double Helix
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The threadlike DNA fibers present in all cells were revealed to be the chemical
basis of heredity in 1944, in research conducted at The Rockefeller University.
Likened in their revolutionary impact to the work of Gregor Mendel and Charles
Darwin, these studies laid the foundation for James Watson and Francis Crick's
breathtaking 1953 discovery of the double-helical structure of the DNA molecule.
Of the three Rockefeller scientists — Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod and Maclyn
McCarty — responsible for the 1944 discovery, only one survives. Ninety-two-
year-old "Mac" McCarty, who comes to the Rockefeller campus almost every day, was honored in 1994
with the Albert Lasker Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science, "for his seminal and historic
investigation which revealed that DNA is the chemical substance of heredity and for ushering in a new era
of contemporary genetics."
The Lasker was awarded during the 50th anniversary year of Avery, MacLeod and McCarty's groundbreaking paper in The Journal of Experimental Medicine. Titled "Studies on the Chemical Nature of the Substance
Inducing Transformation of Pneumococcal Types," the paper proved that DNA — and not a protein or any
other substance — carries hereditary information.
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"Beyond its details, the revolutionary contribution of Avery,
MacLeod and McCarty was the refocusing on DNA by a
generation of chemical biology. Certainly that was its precise
impact on the initiation of my own scientific career." (1979)
Joshua Lederberg
Nobel laureate, Former President of
The Rockefeller University,
on the 35th anniversary of the Avery discovery
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"Even if nothing else had been done at this great university, this extraordinary
discovery has, in my judgment, more than justified — all by itself — the great
hope and aspiration of my grandfather and father when they established this
institution in 1901. It has given to the world what they hoped for: the beginning
of the understanding of the inner mysteries of life and disease." (1994)
David Rockefeller
Honorary Chairman of the Board of Trustees,
The Rockefeller University
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"The investigations carried out by Avery and his school
between 1913 and 1940 have provided the pattern, the
master plan, used by our generation for the immunochemical
study of infectious processes." (1976)
René J. Dubos
Microbiologist, The Rockefeller University
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"The medical research work by Avery, McCarty and MacLeod conducted at
Rockefeller University during World War II changed the course of the world,
reduced suffering and contributed immeasurably to the quality of life as we
know it." (1994)
Retired U.S. Senator Daniel P. Moynihan (D-NY)
Entered into the Congressional Record,
February 2, 1994
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"The most interesting and portentous biological experiment of the 20th century..." (1985)
Sir Peter Medawar
Nobel laureate, immunologist
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"This single discovery opened the way into the biological
evolution which continues to transform our view of nature
in its most intimate details..." (1985)
Lewis Thomas
Physician, scientist and essayist
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