In 1944 Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod and Maclyn McCarty of the Rockefeller Institute in New York published experiments showing that DNA, and not protein, is the substance that carries heredity. Building on Frederick Griffith's 1928 discovery that harmless pneumococcus bacteria could be transformed into killers by material from dead virulent ones, they purified the transforming principle and showed that it was destroyed by DNA-digesting enzyme but not by protein-digesting enzyme. Many scientists remained sceptical until the Hershey-Chase experiment of 1952 confirmed the result.
Before and after
- 1944Discovery of americium
- 1944Discovery of curium
- 1944Tiến Quân Ca
- 1 January 1944Publication of State Anthem of the Soviet Union
- 1944Avery, MacLeod and McCarty show that DNA carries genes
- 19441944 becomes the warmest year on record
- 18 January 1944Birth of Alexander Van der Bellen
- 23 January 1944Death of Edvard Munch
- from 24 January 1944 to 17 February 1944Battle of the Korsun–Cherkassy Pocket
More in Science & technology
- 15 September 1917Launch of Forbes
- 11 January 1922Insulin is first used to treat diabetes
- 1927Hubble–Lemaître law
- 1927Uncertainty principle
- 1936Alan Turing defines the universal machine
- from 1939 to 1946Manhattan Project
The era
This moment belongs to the Modern era (1914 CE to 1945 CE), world wars and a changing world. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.