Who is friedrich miescher

Analyses of its elementary composition revealed that, unlike proteins, it contained large amounts of phosphorous and, as Miescher confirmed later, lacked sulphur. Miescher recognised that he had discovered a novel molecule.

Since he had isolated it from the cells' nuclei he named it nuclein, a name preserved in today's designation deoxyribonucleic acid. He also examined the metabolic changes that occur in salmon when they spawn. In , Miescher was appointed the professor of physiology at the University of Basel , a position previously held by his father and then his uncle.

The appointment meant more funds and equipment for research, but it also meant that Miescher had to teach. Although he put in a lot of time and effort, Miescher was not a good teacher.

His shyness and preoccupation with his research made it difficult for him to relate to his students. He was a perfectionist and a workaholic, and often worked very long hours to do the nuclein isolations. It would be years before the role of nucleic acids were recognized. Miescher, himself, believed that proteins were the molecules of heredity.

However, Miescher laid the groundwork for the molecular discoveries that followed. Miescher died in from tuberculosis. Phoebus Levene knew Ivan Pavlov — the physiologist who developed the idea of the conditional reflex by training dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell. On a visit to New York, Pavlov was mugged. It was Levene who helped Pavlov get home by providing money and a new visa. Levene's tetranucleotide hypothesis is incorrect. What kind of alternate theories can you come up with to explain the structure of DNA?

Funded by The Josiah Macy, Jr. All rights reserved. Choosing leucocytes as his source material, he first investigated the proteins in these cells. However, during these experiments, he noticed a substance with unexpected properties that did not match those of proteins. Miescher had obtained the first crude purification of DNA.