Talk:Oswald Avery

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Untitled[edit]

Why does the photo seem to attribute the discover of the double helix to Avery? I am an outsider, but it seems to me that Avery did tremendous work - but did not discover the double helix!


Discovery - not discoverer. Look under the photo for others involved in the discovery.


Avery did not use mice in his experiment


He found that DNA was the source of genetic information. NOT that it was a Double Helix (that was Watson and Crick) and he was not involved in the discovery, he helped find out what it did.


Oy! Somebody's got some splainin' to do! It seems there's plagiarism from http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/CC/Views/Exhibit/narrative/biographical.html on here (at least in the section about his family life). --ArtifexCrastinus (talk) 06:45, 25 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]


Article rating[edit]

It is a shame this article is only a "C" (which I agree is reasonable) as Avery didn't just help find out what DNA does. Using his years of dogged and highly scientific work and standing on the shoulders of others he rose alone above other scientists of his day and identified DNA as the genetic material. As a physician, I think he should get a "top" ranking, but given that this is a "popular" rating and the Mendel only gets a "high" Avery should get a "high" as well, since everything genetic we do today is based on his discovery. Schlauch (talk) 16:53, 14 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Actually the rating at the moment is Start Class which is lower than C. But it is important to note that this is someone's rating of the Wikipedia article and NOT of the scientist's work. The definitions (click on quality scale above in WikiProject Biography) make this clear: C class: The article is substantial, but is still missing important content or contains a lot of irrelevant material etc. Start class: An article that is developing, but which is quite incomplete and, most notably, lacks adequate reliable sources. So the way to improve the rating is to improve the article by adding more important content. Dirac66 (talk) 00:56, 15 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]


DNA as the basis for genes[edit]

I am adding that ribonuclease were another type of organic molecule tested that were not the transforming substance. Lil' Runner 2.0 (talk) 17:22, 3 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

DNA as the basis for genes[edit]

I am revising the section on Oswald Avery's experiment, adding the fact that they used s-strain bacteria from dead mice to isolate RNA and DNA macromolecules. EthanIAm16 (talk) 17:44, 3 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Retirement and Later Years[edit]

I will be adding a section on Avery's retirement and later years. I will be moving any references to such in the existing article to the new section. EthanIAm16 (talk) 17:58, 7 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: History of Science[edit]

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 17 January 2023 and 5 May 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Lil' Runner 2.0, EthanIAm16 (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Srlg36, Mjwalsh02.

— Assignment last updated by K8shep (talk) 18:02, 12 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I am going to be adding more information about Avery's early life including his participation in church throughout his childhood and his college and medical school years.Lil' Runner 2.0 (talk) 22:01, 6 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Today I added more information about Avery's family.Lil' Runner 2.0 (talk) 18:30, 14 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Today I am going to be adding more information to the section on Rockefeller Institute.Lil' Runner 2.0 (talk) 15:24, 24 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Today I added information about the different subtypes of pneumonococcus that Avery found. Lil' Runner 2.0 (talk) 01:21, 1 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Today I reworded the section about DNA as the transforming principle and added new citations. Lil' Runner 2.0 (talk) 02:23, 1 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Today I added hyperlinks to the words and phrases "The college of Physicians and Surgeons", "tuberculosis", "Dr. Rufus Cole", and "RNA". Lil' Runner 2.0 (talk) 02:35, 2 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Quotes in 'DNA as the basis for genes'[edit]

Surely 'Seldom has more been said in a few words' should be outside the quotes, as it was said by Avery, not Chargaff. Mjt1949 (talk) 19:34, 10 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, there should be inner closing quotes before 'Seldom has more been said'. Mjt1949 (talk) 20:03, 10 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This needs to be deleted, obviously! It is Chargaff's comment about what Avery said earlier. Mjt1949 (talk) 20:19, 10 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]