The Discovery of DNA

Friedrich Miescher

After Gregor Mendel completed his work with pea plants and concluded that traits were passed on in packages from parents to offspring, a scientist from Switzerland named Friedrich Miescher isolated a substance from the nuclei of cells. Miescher called the substance “nuclein,” which is now known as nucleic acid. The importance of this discovery, as well as how “nuclein” was related to the mechanics of heredity, was not understood until many years later. In this topic, you will learn about the discovery of DNA, and the development of the scientific understanding of the structure and function of the molecule.

Essential Question

• What events led to the discovery of DNA as the genetic material in the cell?