Johann Friedrich MiescherBorn 13 Aug 1844; died 26 Aug 1895 at age 51.Swiss biochemist and biologist who studied cell metabolism and discovered nucleic acids. In 1869, while working under Ernst Hoppe-Seyler at the University of Tübingen, Miescher investigated a substance containing both phosphorus and nitrogen in the nuclei of white blood cells found in pus. The substance, first named nuclein because it seemed to come from cell nuclei, became known as nucleic acid after 1874, when Miescher separated it into a protein and an acid molecule. It is now known as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). |