Friedrich Miescher 228671 220363660 2008-06-19T14:26:57Z DOI bot 6652755 Citation maintenance. You can [[WP:DOI|use this bot]] yourself! Please [[User:DOI_bot/bugs|report any bugs]]. {{Infobox Scientist |name = {{PAGENAME}} |box_width = |image =Friedrich Miescher.jpg |image_width =150px |caption = {{PAGENAME}} |birth_date = [[13 August]] [[1844]] |birth_place = [[Basel]] |death_date = [[26 August]] [[1895]] |death_place = [[Davos]] |residence = |citizenship = |nationality = [[Switzerland|Swiss]] |ethnicity = |field = [[biology]] |work_institutions = |alma_mater = |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = [[nucleic acid]]s |author_abbrev_bot = |author_abbrev_zoo = |influences = |influenced = |prizes = |religion = |footnotes = |signature = }} '''Johan Friedrich Miescher''' ([[13 August]] [[1844]], [[Basel]] - [[26 August]] [[1895]], [[Davos]]) was a [[Switzerland|Swiss]] [[biologist]]. He isolated various phosphate-rich chemicals, which he called ''nuclein'' (now [[nucleic acid]]s), from the nuclei of [[white blood cell]]s in [[1869]] at [[Felix Hoppe-Seyler]]'s laboratory at the [[University of Tübingen]], [[Germany]], paving the way for the identification of [[DNA]] as the carrier of inheritance. The significance of the discovery, first published in [[1871]], was not at first apparent, and it was [[Albrecht Kossel]] who made the initial inquiries into its chemical structure. Miescher came from a scientific family: his father and his uncle held the chair of anatomy at the [[University of Basel]]. As a boy he was shy but intelligent. He had a partial hearing impairment due to a severe attack of [[typhus]]. But this did not stop him from having an interest in music and his father performed publicly. Miescher himself studied medicine at Basel. In the summer of 1865 Friedrich worked for the organic chemist Adolf Stecker in [[University of Göttingen|Göttingen]]. His studies were interrupted for the year when he became ill with typhoid fever; however, he still received his M.D. in 1868. Miescher felt that his partial deafness would be a disadvantage as a doctor so he turned to physiological chemistry. Miescher originally wanted to study [[lymphocyte]]s but was encouraged by [[Felix Hoppe-Seyler]] to study [[leucocyte]]s. Miescher was interested in studying the chemistry of the [[Atomic nucleus|nucleus]]. Lymphocytes were difficult to obtain in sufficient enough numbers to study while leucocytes were known to be the one of the main components in pus and could be obtained from bandages at the nearby hospital. The problem was, however, washing the cells off the bandages without damaging them. Miescher devised different salt solutions eventually producing one with sodium sulfate. The cells were filtered. Since centrifuges were not present at this time the cells were allowed to settle at the bottom of a beaker. He then tried to isolate the nuclei free of cytoplasm. He subjected the purified nuclei to an alkaline extraction followed by acidification resulting in a precipitate being formed which Miescher called ''nuclein'' (now known as [[DNA]]). He found that this contained phosphorus, nitrogen, and sulfur. The discovery was so unlike anything else at the time that [[Felix Hoppe-Seyler|Hoppe-Seyler]] repeated all Miescher's research himself before publishing it in his journal. Friedrich then went on to study physiology at Leipzig in the laboratory of Carl Ludwig for a year before returning to Basel where he was appointed professor of physiology. Miescher and his students researched much of the nucleic acid chemistry but their function remained unknown. However, his discovery played an important part in the identification of nucleic acids as the carriers of inheritance. The importance of Miescher's discovery was not apparent until Albrecht Kossel (a German physiologist specializing in the physiological chemistry of the cell and its nucleus and of proteins) carried out research on the chemical structure of nuclein. Friedrich Miescher is also known for demonstrating that carbon dioxide concentrations in blood regulate breathing. He died of [[tuberculosis]] in 1895 aged 51. He has had a laboratory of the [[Max Planck]] Society in [[Tübingen]] and a research institute in [[Basel]] named after him. ==References== *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:17901982 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17901982 |last=Dahm |first=Ralf |publication-date=2008 Jan |year=[[2008]] |title=Discovering DNA: Friedrich Miescher and the early years of nucleic acid research. |volume=122 |issue=6 |periodical=Hum. Genet. |pages=565–81 |doi = 10.1007/s00439-007-0433-0 |journal=Human Genetics }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:15680349 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15680349 |last=Dahm |first=Ralf |publication-date=2005 Feb 15 |year=[[2005]] |title=Friedrich Miescher and the discovery of DNA. |volume=278 |issue=2 |periodical=Dev. Biol. |pages=274–88 |doi = 10.1016/j.ydbio.2004.11.028 |journal=Human Genetics }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:15296772 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15296772 |last=Maderspacher |first=Florian |publication-date=2004 Aug 10 |year=[[2004]] |title=Rags before the riches: Friedrich Miescher and the discovery of DNA. |volume=14 |issue=15 |periodical=Curr. Biol. |pages=R608 |doi = 10.1016/j.cub.2004.07.039 |journal=Human Genetics }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:8500212 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8500212 |last=Parsloe |first=C |publication-date=1994 Jan |year=[[1994]] |title=To Caesar what is Caesar's. |volume=41 |issue=1 |periodical=Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthésie |pages=74–5 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:4581278 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4581278 |last=Merke |first=F |publication-date=1973 Jan |year=[[1973]] |title=[Forgotten fundamental physiological studies of migrating salmon by Basel's physiologist, Friedrich Miescher] |volume=30 |issue=1-2 |periodical=Gesnerus |pages=47–52 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:4908150 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4908150 |last=James |first=J |publication-date=1970 Mar |year=[[1970]] |title=Miescher's discoveries of 1869. A centenary of nuclear chemistry. |volume=18 |issue=3 |periodical=J. Histochem. Cytochem. |pages=217–9 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:4921671 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4921671 |last=Ostrowski |first=W |publication-date=1970 |year=[[1970]] |title=[From nucleic acids to DNA. On the 100th anniversary of the discovery of nucleic acids by Friedrich Miescher] |volume=16 |issue=4 |periodical=Postepy Biochem. |pages=581–7 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:4910336 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4910336 |last=de Meuron-Landolt |first=M |publication-date=1970 Jan |year=[[1970]] |title=[Johannes Friedrich Miescher: his personality and the importance of his work] |volume=25 |issue=1-2 |periodical=Bulletin der Schweizerischen Akademie der Medizinischen Wissenschaften |pages=9–24 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:4908661 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4908661 |last=Bernhard |first=K |publication-date=1970 Jan |year=[[1970]] |title=[Jonhannes Friedrich Miescher Symposium. 100th anniversary of the discovery of nucleic acids. Welcome] |volume=25 |issue=1-2 |periodical=Bulletin der Schweizerischen Akademie der Medizinischen Wissenschaften |pages=32–4 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:4903604 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4903604 |last=Harbers |first=E |publication-date=1969 Oct |year=[[1969]] |title=On the discovery of DNA by Friedrich Miescher 100 years ago. |volume=14 |issue=10 |periodical=German medical monthly |pages=517–8 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:4897532 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4897532 |last=Harbers |first=E |publication-date=1969 Sep 19 |year=[[1969]] |title=[On the discovery of DNA by Friedrich Miescher 100 years ago] |volume=94 |issue=38 |periodical=Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. |pages=1948–9 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:13049881 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13049881 |last=BUESS |first=H |publication-date=1953 Feb |year=[[1953]] |title=Joh. Friedrich Miescher and the contribution of Basle physicians to the biology of the nineteenth century. |volume=25 |issue=4 |periodical=The Yale journal of biology and medicine |pages=250–61 }} *{{cite journal | author = Miescher, Friedrich | title = Ueber die chemische Zusammensetzung der Eiterzellen | journal = Med.-Chem. Unters. | year = 1871 | volume = 4 | issue = | pages = 441–460 | doi = | url = }} *{{cite journal | author = [[Jesse P. Greenstein]] | title = Friedrich Miescher, 1844-1895 | journal = The Scientific Monthly | year = 1943 | volume = 57 | issue = 5 | pages = 523–532 | doi = | url =http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0096-3771%28194312%2957%3A6%3C523%3AFM1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-8 }} * [[Meyer Friedman]] and [[Gerald W. Friedland]], ''Medicine's 10 Greatest Discoveries'', ISBN 0-300-08278-9, pp.194-196. ==External Links== * [http://vlp.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/people/data?id=per340 Short biography and bibliography] in the Virtual Laboratory of the [[Max Planck Institute for the History of Science]] *[http://www.fmi.ch/ FMI - Friedrich Miescher Institute] *[http://www.fml.tuebingen.mpg.de/ The Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society] *[http://www.laskerfoundation.org/rprimers/gnn/timeline/1869a Lasker Foundation] *[http://www.fmi.ch/members/marilyn.vaccaro/ewww/dna.pioneer.excerpt.htm FMI - DNA Pioneers and Their Legacy by Ulf Lagerkvist] {{BD|1844|1895|Miescher, Friedrich}} [[Category:People from Basel (city)]] [[Category:Swiss biologists]] [[Category:Swiss biochemists]] [[Category:University of Göttingen alumni]] [[Category:University of Tübingen faculty]] [[de:Friedrich Miescher]] [[es:Friedrich Miescher]] [[fr:Friedrich Miescher]] [[gl:Friedrich Miescher]] [[it:Friedrich Miescher]] [[he:פרידריך מישר]] [[la:Fridericus Miescher]] [[nl:Johann Friedrich Miescher (1844-1895)]] [[pl:Johann Friedrich Miescher]] [[pt:Johann Friedrich Miescher]] [[ro:Johann Friedrich Miescher]] [[ru:Мишер, Иоганн Фридрих]] [[sv:Friedrich Miescher]] [[uk:Іоганн Фрідріх Мішер]] [[zh:弗雷德里希·米歇爾]]