1950s: DNA discoveries herald new era in biology
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| James Watson Describes DNA Structure |
Alfred Hershey came to Cold Spring Harbor in 1950. Two years later, he and Martha Chase performed one of the most famous experiments in modern biology, the “Waring blender” experiment, which reinforced the findings of other scientists that genes were made of DNA, not protein. The discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953, first described publicly by James Watson at the 1953 Cold Spring Harbor Symposium entitled “Viruses,” heralded a new era in biology.