Friedrich Meischer and the Story of Nucleic Acid

It was one of the greatest mysteries of mankind: how are traits passed from parent to child? Although philosophers and scientists from the earliest civilizations recognized that offspring carried traits from both parents, nobody understood the process responsible for heredity. It wasn’t until a shy young Swiss chemist stumbled upon a new substance that the mystery began to be literally unraveled.

Friedrich Miescher came from a distinguished family of physicians but turned to research for his life’s work, worried that a hearing impairment would make it difficult to treat patients properly. Although Miescher would discover the key to heredity, nucleic acid, it would be many years before the importance of his discovery was fully appreciated. This book tells the great scientific detective story that resulted in the ultimate unveiling of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, as the genetic material responsible for heredity.