Database: Discovering DNA

Tübingen//Germany//1869

Johann Friedrich Miescher discovered DNA in 1869 while studying leukocytes on pus-ridden bandages. After multiple experiments, he found a way to separate the nuclei from its cytoplasm and extracted a substance from the nuclei. He referred to this substance as nuclein, and it became known as nucleic acid after 1874.

Miescher was only twenty-five years old when he made the groundbreaking discovery.