146In a typical scene: Dubos 1977, p. 52.
147‘Disappointment is my daily bread’: Dubos 1976, p. 139. Avery sometimes added, ‘But I thrive on it.’
147‘soluble specific substance’: Avery O.T., Dochez A.R. Elaboration of specific soluble substance by pneumococcus during growth. J Exp Med 1917; 26:477; Dubos 1976, pp. 105–7.
147injected with lethal doses: Ibid, pp. 106–7.
147easily detected: Dochez A.R., Avery O.T. Soluble substance of pneumococcus: origin in the blood and urine during lobar pneumonia. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 1917; 14:126–7. The wrong patient sample: Dubos 1976, pp. 103–4.
147ambush him in the corridor: Ibid, p. 73.
147complex carbohydrates: Heidelberger M. A ‘pure’ organic chemist’s downward path. Ann Rev Microbiol 1977; 31:10–11. Papers: Heidelberger M., Avery O.T. The soluble specific substance of pneumococcus. J Exp Med 1923; 38:73–9; Heidelberger M., Goebel W.F. The soluble specific substance of pneumococcus. IV. On the nature of the specific polysaccharide of Type III pneumococcus. J Biol Chem 1926; 70: 613–24.
147the real thing: Dubos 1976, p. 109.
148the ‘Red Seal Records’: Ibid, pp. 76, 84–5; McCarty 1977, pp. 39–40; MacLeod C.M. Obituary Notice. Oswald Theodore Avery, 1877–1955. J Gen Miocrobiol 1957; 17:533–4.
148Griffith’s ‘bombshell’ paper: Dubos 1976, pp. 132–8.
148vetoed any attempt: Ibid, p. 136. See also McCarty 1985, p. 82 (with McCarty’s cautionary note about the source on p. 81).
148‘Fess’ had not been well for months: Ibid, pp. 86–7.
149another Nova Scotian: Martin Dawson’s biography is waiting to be written. The brief Wikipedia entry on Dawson cites no sources. See also Dubos 1977, p. 55, suggesting that Dawson was pro-English and therefore more inclined to believe Griffith’s findings.
149a single pneumococcus: Griffith 1923.
149confirmed Griffith’s finding: Dawson M.H. The interconvertibility of ‘R’ and ‘S’ forms of pneumococcus. J Exp Med 1928; 47: 577–591.
149furiously against the clock: The quotations and findings are from his two further papers (Dawson 1930), published back to back in J Exp Med after he had left the Rockefeller. ‘Does not correspond to any known substance’ is in the conclusion of his second paper.
150a 400-word abstract: Dawson M.H., Sia R.P. The transformation of pneumococcal types in vitro. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 1930; 27:989–90.
150Avery made no reference: Dawson & Sia 1931.
150Alloway joined Avery’s lab: Dubos 1977, p. 55. Alloway’s photograph, as a newly qualified doctor in Vanderbilt University Medical College, Nashville, is at: https://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/throughtime/items/show/382.
151he had grudgingly accepted: Dubos 1956, p. 40.
151His first paper had already been accepted: Alloway 1932.
151his second followed close behind: Alloway 1933.
151a cylindrical ceramic filter: the filters were made of sintered kieselguhr, a siliceous earth, and called ‘Berkefeld candles’ after their shape and the owner of the kiesleguhr mine near Hanover who manufactured them. Kieselguhr was also used by Alfred Nobel to stabilise nitroglycerine, which has a regrettable habit of exploding prematurely; he called the product ‘dynamite’, and the resulting patents helped to fund the Nobel Prizes.
151The precipitate could be collected: Alloway 1933, pp. 266–7.
151Avery’s illness: McCarty 1985 pp. 86–7.
152from a bacterium found in a peat-bog: Dubos R., Avery O.T. Decomposition of the capsular polysaccharide of pneumococcus type III by a bacterial enzyme. J Exp Med 1931; 54:51–71.
152saved the lives of monkeys: Francis T., Terrell E.E., Dubos R., Avery O.T. Experimental type III pneumonia in monkeys. II. Treatment with an enzyme which decomposes the specific capsular polysaccharide of pneumococcus type III. J Exp Med 1934; 59:641–68. The monkeys were given morphine to suppress coughing and encourage the virulent Type III pneumococci (injected into the trachea) to ‘gain a foothold in the lung’: Avery O.T. Report to Board of Research Directors of Rockefeller Institute, April 1932.
152a junior member of Avery’s team: This was Frank Horsfall, destined to succeed Avery as chief of the pneumonia research lab at the Rockefeller. See Hirst G.K. Frank Lappin Horsfall Jr., 1906–1971. A Biographical Memoir. Washington DC: Natl Acad Sci, 1972, p. 236.
152‘established but poorly understood’: Avery OT, Annual Report to the Board of Research Directors of the Rockefeller Institute Hospital, April 1933.
152Wilhelm Baurhenn in Heidelberg had repeated: Baurhenn W. Untersuchungen zur Variabilität und zur Analyse der R-S Umwandlung von Pneumokokken. Zentralblatt Bakt Parasit 1932; Abt 1, 126:28–92.
153‘the pivotal discovery’: Joshua Lederberg (Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, 1958), quoted in Holley J. ‘Pioneering geneticist Maclyn McCarty dies’. Washington Post 6 Jan 2005, p. B6.
Chapter 13: Up North
WTA = William (Bill) Astbury; JDB = J.D. Bernal.
154Astbury wrote to Bernal: Letter from WTA to JDB, 13 Sept 1928. In JDB, Personal Papers. Cambridge Univ Library Archives GBR/0012/MS add.8287 J2.
154‘completely complex and mundane’: Bernal 1963 , p. 7.
155a gentlemen’s agreement: Portugal & Cohen, p. 217. WTA later reminded JDB, ‘Don’t snaffle any proteins.’ Hall, p. 71.
155At first sight: Olby 1974, pp. 41–2; Hall, pp. 60–3.
155not virgin territory: Olby 1974 p. 45; Hall, p. 60–1.
155‘lifeless and structurally dull’: the view of the ignorant, according to WTA, who believed that keratin was ‘the most exciting protein in the world (Hall, p. 81) and became ‘completely interested’ in wool which was superior to ‘other miserable textiles’ (Olby 1974, pp. 47, 53).
156his own X-ray camera: Hall, pp. 62–3. Photographs of the apparatus are at https://www.leeds.ac.uk/heritage/Astbury/Astbury_X_ray_camera/index.html.
156a distinctive X-ray pattern: Astbury & Street 1931; Astbury & Woods 1933.
156a two-dimensional zigzag structure: Astbury W.T., Sisson W.A. X-ray studies of the structure of hair, wool and related fibres. III. The configuration of the keratin molecule and its orientation in the biological cell. Phil Trans Roy Soc A 1935; 150:533–49.
156the permanent wave in hairdressing salons: Hall, pp. 75–6.
156their own brand of keratin: Astbury W.T., Marwick T.C. X-ray interpretation of the molecular structure of feather keratin. Nature 1932; 130:309.
156the ‘sailor’s eyeball’: Astbury W.T., Marwick T.C., Bernal J.D. X-ray analysis of the structure of the wall of Valonia ventricosa. I. Proc Roy Soc B 1932; 109:443–50.
157the tough and unstretchable collagen: Astbury W.T. The molecular structures of the fibres of the collagen group. First Procter Memorial Lecture. Internat Soc Leather Trades’ Chemists 1939; 24: 69–73; Astbury W.T., Bell F.O. Molecular stucture of the collagen fibres. Nature 1940; 145:42–2.
157the egg-white protein albumen: Astbury W.T., Lomax R. An X-ray study of the hydration and denaturation of proteins. J Chem Soc 1935:846.
157transforming a soluble protein: Hall, pp. 74–5.
157the ‘fullest scientific activities’: Olby 1974, p. 48.
157The Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes: Ibid, p. 25–6; Judson, p. 529; Portugal & Cohen, p. 207.
157Astbury had failed: Frustrated by their consistent lack of interest and support, WTA wrote that they had provided ‘no help of significance’. Bernal 1963, p. 15.
158his ‘brilliant idea’: Ibid, p. 11.
158‘It was part of his personality’: Ibid, p. 26.
158a ‘cream-skimmer’ who hoped to chance upon: Olby 1974, p. 49; ‘an artistic amateur’: Ian McArthur, a member of WTA’s group, quoted in Ibid, pp. 59–60.
158‘I am alpha and omega’: The context is unknown, but WTA made the remark at a conference on coal and petrol in 1948; Olby 1974, p. 46.
158‘marvellously conscientious and thorough’: Hall, p. 96.
158His ‘un
sinkable enthusiasm’: Bernal 1963, p. 4.
159‘glad to be alive’: Ibid, p. 29.
159‘possessive, inflexible and over-confident’: Olby 1974, p. 59.
159‘the wonder of it all’: Ibid, pp. 50, 57.
159the weavable peanut protein: Hall, pp. 182–8. WTA was enraged to discover that ICI, which produced the fabric commercially, tried to claim his discovery as their own.
159from Professor W.G. Schmidt: Olby 1974, p. 64.
159explored by Florence Bell: Olby 1974, pp. 64–5.
160his ‘vox diabolica’: Ibid, p. 65.
160A young Swedish scientist: Caspersson.
160the shape of thymonucleic acid: Signer.
160a letter from J.D. Bernal: Olby 1974, pp. 44–5.
160the purest thymonucleic acid yet: Ibid, pp. 99–100.
160an ingenious method: Bell F.O. X-ray and related studies of the structure of the proteins and nucleic acids. PhD thesis, University of Leeds, 1939, p. 44.
161‘a pile of pennies’: the model proposed by Astbury and Bell was described in their paper in Nature (1938), but was not drawn until WTA’s presentation at the Cold Spring Harbor Symposium in the summer of that year; Hall, pp. 98–9.
161The paper by Astbury and Bell: Astbury W.T., Bell F.O. X-ray study of thymonucleic acid. Nature 1938; 141:747–8.
161paper on the protein multilayers: Astbury W.T., Bell F.O., Gorter E., Van Ormondt J. Optical and X-ray examination and direct measurements of built-up protein films. Nature 1938; 142:33–4.
163Haldane came to wonder: Olby 1974, p. 113.
164the time-honoured catechism: Caspersson T., Hammarsten E., Hammarsten H. Interactions of proteins and nucleic acid. Trans Faraday Soc 1935; 31:369; Olby 1974, p. 105.
164Their ‘most likely role’: Olby 1974, p. 107.
164the word ‘ecstatic’: Hall, pp. 98–9.
164Astbury was invited: Astbury & Bell.
165Stuart Mudd, bacteriologist: Olby 1974, p. 67.
165‘changes in the order’: Ibid, p. 67.
165the Third Conference on Industrial Physics: Lewis J.L. 125 Years: the Physical Society and the Institute of Physics. Bristol: Inst Physics Publ, 1999, p. 65.
165Under the headline: see Kersten Hall’s blog, ‘Florence Bell: the other Dark Lady of DNA?’ on British Society for the History of Science website, www.bshs.org.uk
166the Seventh International Genetical Conference: Olby 1974, p. 111.
166‘the air became disturbed’: Ibid, p. 118.
166Astbury delivered his talk: Ibid, p. 67, 111.
Chapter 14: Unholy Grails
168One victim was Nikolai Vavilov: Harland, pp. 259–60; Crow, p. 1–2.
169a dark, stocky man: Harland, p. 261; Crow, p. 1; Pringle, p. 4.
169the wilderness of Persia: Pringle, pp. 49–59; Harland, p. 260.
169he worked with William Bateson: Pringle, pp. 36–41.
169a lasting collaboration: Pringle, pp. 194–5; Crow, pp. 1–2.
170a charmed life: Crow, p. 1; Pringle, pp. 96–120.
170a thirty-year-old agricultural graduate: Ibid, pp. 132–8.
170Lysenko’s ‘remarkable discoveries’: Pringle, p. 178; Crow, p. 1.
170hairy caterpillars: Medvedev Z.A. The Rise and Fall of T.D. Lysenko. New York: Anchor Books, 1971, p. 171.
170‘mathematics has no place’: Joravsky D. The Lysenko Affair. Chicago: Univ Chicago Press, 1986, p. 49.
170Vavilov dropped into the trap: Mawer, p. 130.
170publicly admired Comrade Lysenko: Crow, p. 1.
171Herman Muller came to work: Ibid, p. 1.
171accused Lysenko of sorcery: Pringle, p. 210.
171sacked Vavilov: Harland, p. 261; Pringle, pp. 216–8.
171sixteen-year reign of terror: Pringle, pp. 215–45; Weaver R.F., Hedrick P.W. Genetics, 3rd edn Dubuque, Iowa: William C. Brown, 1997, p. 572.
171Levit and Agol were arrested: Ibid, pp. 206, 337.
171They said their farewells: Crow, p. 2; see Pringle, pp. 221–2.
171he told a group: Soyfer V.N. Lysenko and the Tragedy of Soviet Science. New Brunswick: Rutgers Univ Press, 1994, p. 136.
171Lysenko demonised Vavilov: Ibid, p. 122.
171a plant-collecting expedition: Pringle, pp. 9–11.
171the charges against him: Crow, p. 2.
172the improvement of hereditary stock: Stubbe, pp. 175–8.
172a well-proportioned tree: See Mawer, p. 122 (the logo of the Second Inernational Eugenics Conference, 1921).
173the first dedicated eugenics centre: The movement’s development in America is succinctly reviewed in Mawer, p. 119–123. See also Allen G.E. Was Nazi eugenics created in the US? EMBO Reports 2004; 5:451–452.
17340,000 Americans: Reilly P.R. Involuntary sterilization in the United States: a surgical solution. Quart Rev Biology 1987; 62:153–70.
173Rassenhygiene (‘racial hygiene’): Weiss S.F. The race hygiene movement in Germany. Osiris 1987; 3:193–236.
174Suddenly, genetics was everywhere: Tietze F. Eugenic measures in the Third Reich. The Eugenics Review 1939; 31:105–107.
174One devilishly efficient device: Friedlander H. The Origins of Nazi Genocide. Chapel Hill: Univ North Carolina Press, 1995, p. 133.
174‘unworthy of living’: the concept originated in Binding K., Hoche A. Permitting the Destruction of Life Unworthy of Life (1920). Republished by Suzeteo Enterprises; 2012.
174Aktion T4 programme: Weindling 2004, p. 100; Weindling P.J. From scientific object to commemorated victim: the children of the Spiegelgrund. Hist Philos Life Sci 2013; 35:415–30. ‘T4’ was named after the address of the programme’s headquarters near the zoo in Berlin – 4 Tiergartenstrasse.
175The University Hospital of Tübingen: Stephenson J. Hitler’s Home Front. London: Hambledon Continuum, 2006, pp. 12, 114–7.
175sacked as director: Neufeld, p. 150.
175typhus vaccines: Weindling 2004, p. 37.
175the aniline dye Prontosil Red: Gerhard Domagk: biographical. Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine, 1922–1941. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1965.
175At midnight on 26 October 1939: Grundmann E. Gerhard Domagk: the First Man to Triumph over Infectious Disease. Vienna: LIT Verlag, 2005, p. 82.
175Domagk wrote a thank-you letter: Ibid, p. 83.
175an edict from Hitler: Crawford E. German scientists and Hitler’s vendetta against the Nobel Prizes. Hist Studies Phys Biol Sci 2000; 31:37–53.
176released unharmed: Grundmann (above), p. 86.
176the Nazi-branded Deutsche Physik: a Nazified version of physics was promoted by Johannes Stark, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1919 and attended the ‘catch-up’ ceremony in June 1920 alongside von Laue.
176he sent his gold Nobel medal: Hevesy G. Adventures in Radioisotope Research, Vol. 1. New York: Pergamon, 1962, p. 27.
177just as brilliant: Corner, pp. 98,154.
177The new director: Horsfall F.L. Thomas Milton Rivers, 1882–1962. A biographical memoir. Washington DC: Natl Acad Sci, 1965, pp. 261–94.
177Avery’s latest young hopeful: McDermott.
178began to teach himself how to transform pneumococci: McCarty 1985, pp. 89–90.
178MacLeod named it ‘R36’: Ibid, pp. 90–2.
178boldly declared his intention: Avery OT. Report to the Director of the Rockefeller Institute Hospital, 20 April 1935.
178They tried to write a paper: McCarty 1985, p. 97.
178the antibiotic sulfapyridine: Ibid, p. 98.
179‘knock everything into a cocked hat’: Benison S. Tom Rivers. Reflections on a Life in Medicine and Science. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1967, p. 326.
179encouraged his staff: Ibid, p. 320.
179Phoebus Levene died: Corner, p. 341; also pp. 116–7 for a more sober assessment of Levene’s contributions to nucleic acid chemistry.
179‘So long as Life continues’: Levene’s speech on accepting the Willard Gibbs Medal of the American Chemical Society, 1931. In: Levene P. The r
evolt of the biochemists. Science 1931; 74:23–4.
180an industrial cream separator: McCarty 1985, pp. 103–5.
180Experiment No. 1 took place: Ibid, p. 102.
180exactly what it looked like: Ibid, p. 115.
181very little protein: Avery O.T. Studies on capsular synthesis by pneumococci. Annual Report to Board of Scientific Directors, Rockefeller Institute Hospital, 1940–1; Dubos 1976, pp. 141, 143–4.
181an unusual sugar called D-ribose: McCarty 1985 pp. 107–8.
181which he called ‘ribonuclease’ (RNase): Ibid, p. 108; Dubos 1937; Corner, p. 347.
182a gift from heaven: McCarty 1985, p. 113.
182Short of helping him to pack: Ibid, pp. 113–4.
182Soon after, Rivers announced: Ibid, p. 114. Rivers appointed Frank Horsfall, a virologist and contemporary of MacLeod at McGill and the Rockefeller, to succeed Avery. Rivers later remarked that Horsfall had ‘long been one of my favourites’ (Benison, p. 324).
182the Type III SSS-degrading enzyme: Dubos R, Avery O.T. Decomposition of the capsular polysaccharide of pneumococcus type III by a bacterial enzyme. J Exp Med 1931;54:51–71.
182‘Thus it would appear’: McCarty 1985, p. 109.
Chapter 15: Applications of science
JTR = John Randall. MHFW = Maurice Wilkins.
184a black metal deed box: Wilkins 1987, p. 505; Phelps S. The Tizard Mission. Yardley, Pennsylvania, 2010, pp. 146–62.
184The box joined him: Ibid, pp. 163–8.
185‘cavity resonator magnetron’: Wilkins 1987, pp. 502–3; Boot H.A.H., Randall J.T. Historical notes on the cavity magnetron. IEEE Trans Electron Devices 1976; ED23:724–9.
185Randall studied physics: Wilkins 1987, p. 494.
185‘well enough of me’: Ibid, p. 495.
185The armed escort arrived too late: Ibid, p. 163; Angela Hind, The World in a Briefcase. BBC Radio 4, 5 Feb 2007. See: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6331897.stm.
185adapt to the ‘smooth South’: Ibid, p. 496, 498.
186a 300-page book: Randall J.T. X-ray and Electron Diffraction by Amorphous Solids, Liquids and Gases. London: Chapman & Hall, 1934.
186Randall won a Royal Society Fellowship: Wilkins 1987, pp. 499–500. 186 a room with a sloping ceiling: Ibid, pp. 500–1; Wilkins 2003, pp. 50–1.
Unravelling the Double Helix Page 45