)
An Avery family portrait, 1886. Oswald is seated to the left of his father, the Reverend Joseph Francis Avery.
)
1900 picture of the Colgate band. Avery is seated in the middle holding his cornet.
)
Oswald Avery at work in the laboratory, around 1930.
)
Memo approving Avery's appointment to the Rockefeller Institute.
)
Avery at a 1940 Christmas party.
)
A page from the May 15, 1943 letter from Oswald Avery to his brother Roy. In the letter Avery speculated on how transformation could happen. Avery never publicly connected genes with DNA and his transformation experiments.
)
Colin Munro MacLeod, 1936.
)
Maclyn McCarty, 1936.
Audio Glossary
Allele, Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), Gene, Genome, Genotype, Inherited, PhenotypeVideo Interviews
Maclyn McCarty is Professor Emeritus at the Rockefeller University. He worked with Oswald Avery on studying and characterizing the transforming ability of DNA.
Clip 1 (1:00)
Commenting on Avery as a scientific group leader and as a person.
Clip 2 (0:53)
Relating how Avery was a successful orator while an undergraduate at Colgate University, and his subsequent disdain for public speaking as a scientist.
Clip 4 (0:40)
Describing the in vitro transformation experiments: the effect of removing polysaccharides from the bacterial extracts.
Clip 5 (0:37)
Describing the in vitro transformation experiments: the effect of destroying nucleic acids.
Clip 6 (0:26)
Characterizing the resistence to the discovery of DNA as the transforming factor: running against existing dogma.
Clip 7 (0:59)
How the bacterial transformation experiments provided the first real opportunity to study the chemical nature of the gene.
In 1944, Oswald Avery and his colleagues, Colin MacLeod and Maclyn McCarty published their landmark paper on the transforming ability of DNA. OSWALD THEODORE AVERY (1877-1955)
Oswald Avery was born in 1877 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His father was a Baptist minister, and when Oswald was ten, his father became the pastor at the Mariners' Temple in New York's Lower East Side. Avery's parents were strong, enterprising people. They managed quite well on a small pastoral salary in the midst of one of the most crowded and squalid areas of New York City. They received occasional monetary donations from John D. Rockefeller, the rich industrial, who was an active supporter of the Baptist Church. As a young boy, Avery learned how to play the cornet and on Sunday afternoons would play to attract worshippers to the church. He was so good that he won a scholarship to the National Conservatory of Music. In 1893, Avery attended the Colgate Academy and later the Colgate University. He became the leader of the college band and acquired the nickname "Babe" because of his small stature. Avery was a good student and graduated from Colgate with a B.A. Even though he took very few science courses at Colgate, after graduation Avery went to the College of Physicians and Surgeons to study medicine. At the turn of the century, the field of medicine was changing. Scientists were beginning to determine the nature and cause of disease. Though good with patients, Avery found medical research more intellectually satisfying. In 1907, Avery accepted an associate directorship at Hoagland Laboratory in Brooklyn — the first privately endowed bacterial research laboratory in the United States. While at the Hoagland, Avery taught student nurses and earned another nickname: "Fess" for professor. Avery worked on many strains of bacteria, applying different immunological and chemical methods. In 1913, Avery published a clinical study of the tuberculosis bacterium. This work attracted the attention of Dr. Rufus Cole, the director of the Rockefeller Institute Hospital, who offered Avery a job at the Rockefeller. Avery did his Pneumococcus work at the Rockefeller and stayed there until his retirement in 1948. Avery was well-liked by his colleagues, even though he didn't spend much time socializing with them. He also traveled infrequently and rarely attended scientific conferences or meetings. The exception was his yearly summer vacation to Deer Island in Maine where he could indulge in one of his favorite pastimes, sailing. After retirement, Avery moved to Nashville to be near his brother's family. Although he was offered an opportunity to continue his research career, Avery cultivated the lifestyle of the retired "country gentleman." He took long walks, gardened and spent time with his family. In 1954, he was diagnosed with liver cancer. Avery died the following year after a painful illness. MACLYN MCCARTY (1911-)
Maclyn McCarty was born in South Bend, Indiana. His father worked for the Studebaker Corporation in South Bend and was sent to various locations around the country. His family moved with him and McCarty's early education was itinerant until they settled back in South Bend in 1922. His parents were both extremely well-read and they encouraged their children to be self-sufficient in the pursuit of knowledge. In high school, McCarty read a book called Microbe Hunters. This led to other books on biology and medicine and helped McCarty decide on a career in medical research. As a prelude to later research, McCarty and three of his high school friends formed the "Amateur Research Chemists" Club and did experiments in their basement labs. In 1929, McCarty went to Stanford University for premed training and in 1933 started medical school at Johns Hopkins University. He spent a few summers as a pediatrics intern but by the time he graduated medical school, McCarty was working in a clinical research lab. After graduation, McCarty looked for a research position, a scarcity because of the war. In 1940, he accepted a position for $100 a month to work with William Tillet at New York University. The next year, McCarty obtained a fellowship from the National Research Council. Their recommendation was that McCarty use the fellowship in another lab to broaden his experimental horizons. Tillet made arrangements for McCarty to join Oswald Avery's lab at the Rockefeller Research Institute. Tillet had worked in Avery's lab in the 20's and thought that it was the natural place for McCarty to go to pursue his interest in bacteriological research. At the Rockefeller, McCarty worked with Avery to perfect the purification of the Pneumococcus transforming factor, and they were the first to precipitate DNA from bacteria. They used enzymes to degrade different classes of molecules and proved that DNA was the transforming factor. Their landmark paper was published in 1944. McCarty had been drafted in 1942 and did most of the work in a naval uniform as part of the naval research unit based at Rockefeller Hospital. In 1946, McCarty was given his own research lab at the Rockefeller Institute. He is now professor emeritus of the Rockefeller University, which evolved from the Rockefeller Research Institute. | |
 |
LinksProfiles in ScienceFrom the National Library of Medicine, this site has a very extensive collection of material on Oswald Avery. The material was donated by Dr. Joshua Lederberg. Bibliography
|
