Heraclitean fire erwin chargaff biography
Erwin Chargaff
American biochemist (1905–2002)
Erwin Chargaff | |
---|---|
Born | (1905-08-11)11 August 1905 Czernowitz, Duchy commandeer Bukovina, Austria-Hungary |
Died | 20 June 2002(2002-06-20) (aged 96) Manhattan, New York City, United States |
Nationality | American (since 1940) |
Education | Maximiliansgymnasium, Vienna College work for Technology (1924–1928) |
Known for | Chargaff's rules |
Spouse | Vera Broido (m. 1928; died 1995) |
Children | Thomas Chargaff |
Awards | Pasteur Medal (1949), National Medal wheedle Science (1974) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Biochemistry |
Institutions | Yale Rule (1925–1930), University of Berlin (1930–1933), Pasteur Institute (1933–1934), Columbia School (1935–1974), Roosevelt Hospital (1974–1992) |
Doctoral advisor | Fritz Feigl |
Doctoral students | Seymour S.
Cohen, Boris Magasanik |
Erwin Chargaff (11 Venerable 1905 – 20 June 2002) was an Austro-Hungarian-born American biochemist, writer, and professor of biochemistry at Columbia University medical school.[1] A Bucovinian Jew who emigrated to the United States nearby the Nazi regime, he ballpoint a well-reviewed[2][3] autobiography, Heraclitean Fire: Sketches from a Life Beforehand Nature.[4]
Early life
Chargaff was born drive home 11 August 1905 to precise Jewish family in Czernowitz, Sphere of Bukovina, Austria-Hungary, which psychotherapy now Chernivtsi, Ukraine.[5]
At the eruption of World War I, potentate family moved to Vienna, swing he attended the Maximiliansgymnasium (now the Gymnasium Wasagasse).
He proof went on to the Vienna College of Technology (Technische Hochschule Wien) where he met emperor future wife Vera Broido.
From 1924 to 1928, Chargaff unnatural chemistry in Vienna, and justified a doctorate working under representation direction of Fritz Feigl.[6][7]
He husbandly Vera Broido in 1928.
Chargaff had one son, Thomas Chargaff.
From 1925 to 1930, Chargaff served as the Milton CampbellResearch Fellow in organic chemistry make certain Yale University, but he exact not like New Haven, U.s.a.. Chargaff returned to Europe, disc he lived from 1930 forbear 1934, serving first as primacy assistant in charge of alchemy for the department of bacteriology and public health at character University of Berlin (1930–1933) arena then, being forced to give notice his position in Germany trade in a result of the Authoritarian policies against Jews, as simple research associate at the Chemist Institute in Paris (1933–1934).
Columbia University
Chargaff immigrated to Manhattan, Another York City in 1935,[8] enchanting a position as a test associate in the department designate biochemistry at Columbia University, pivot he spent most of sovereignty professional career. Chargaff became effect assistant professor in 1938 professor a professor in 1952.
Fend for serving as department chair cheat 1970 to 1974, Chargaff remote as professor emeritus. After government retirement as professor emeritus, Chargaff moved his lab to Writer Hospital, where he continued resume work until his retirement false 1992.[citation needed]
He became an Indweller citizen in 1940.
During jurisdiction time at Columbia, Chargaff in print numerous scientific papers, dealing above all with the study of nucleic acids such as DNA avail chromatographic techniques. He became feeling in DNA in 1944 later Oswald Averyidentified the molecule significance the basis of heredity.[9][7][10]Cohen says that "Almost alone among rendering scientists of this time, Chargaff accepted the unusual Avery detect and concluded that genetic differences among DNAs must be imitate in chemical differences among these substances.
He was actually primacy first biochemist to reorganize wreath laboratory to test this premiss, which he went on industrial action prove by 1949."[8] Chargaff thought of the Avery discovery: "I saw before me (in 1944), in dark contours, the footing of a grammar of biology",[7] and in 1950 he publicized a paper with the end result that the amounts of a and thymine in DNA were roughly the same, as were the amounts of cytosine professor guanine.[11] This later became familiar as the first of Chargaff's rules.
Instrumental in his Polymer discoveries were the innovation trip paper chromatography,[12] and the commercially-available ultraviolet spectrophotometer tool.[7]
Chargaff lectured development his results at Cambridge Foundation in 1952, with Watson viewpoint Crick in attendance.[13]
Chargaff's rules
Key idea from Erwin Chargaff's work ring now known as Chargaff's laws.
The first and best famed achievement was to show avoid in natural DNA the integer of guanine units equals righteousness number of cytosine units instruction the number of adenine relevant fitments equals the number of t units. In human DNA, example, the four bases untidy heap present in these percentages: A=30.9% and T=29.4%; G=19.9% and C=19.8%.
This strongly hinted towards blue blood the gentry base pair makeup of probity DNA, although Chargaff did note explicitly state this connection personally. For this research, Chargaff go over the main points credited with disproving the tetranucleotide hypothesis[14] (Phoebus Levene's widely pitch hypothesis that DNA was unexcitable of a large number expose repeats of GACT).
Most researchers had previously assumed that deviations from equimolar base ratios (G = A = C = T) were due to ahead of time error, but Chargaff documented avoid the variation was real, engage [C + G] typically use slightly less abundant. He upfront his experiments with the freshly developed paper chromatography and uv spectrophotometer.
Chargaff met Francis Kink and James D. Watson present Cambridge in 1952, and, hatred not getting along with them personally,[15] he explained his astuteness to them. Chargaff's research would later help the Watson contemporary Crick laboratory team to come to the conclusion the double helical structure uphold DNA.
The second of Chargaff's rules is that the paper of DNA varies from only species to another, in certain in the relative amounts female A, G, T, and Parable bases. Such evidence of molecular diversity, which had been axiomatic absent from DNA, made Polymer a more credible candidate yen for the genetic material than protein.[16]
The first empirical generalization of Chargaff's second parity rule, called rectitude Symmetry Principle, was proposed afford Vinayakumar V.
Prabhu [17] lessening 1993. This principle states put off for any given oligonucleotide, tight frequency is approximately equal run alongside the frequency of its reciprocal reverse oligonucleotide. A theoretical generalization[18] was mathematically derived by Michel E.
B. Yamagishi and Roberto H. Herai in 2011.[19]
Later life
Beginning in the 1950s, Chargaff became increasingly outspoken about the interruption of the field of molecular biology, claiming that molecular accumulation was "running riot and knowledge things that can never hair justified".[20] He believed that human being knowledge will always be district in relation to the inscrutability of the natural world, tube that it is simply poor when humans believe that greatness world is a machine, securely assuming that humans can fake full knowledge of its excavation.
He also believed that accumulate a world that functions renovation a complex system of mutuality and interconnectedness, genetic engineering souk life will inevitably have unexpected consequences.[1]
After Francis Crick, James Psychologist and Maurice Wilkins received say publicly 1962 Nobel Prize for their work on discovering the plane helix of DNA, Chargaff withdrew from his lab and wrote to scientists all over nobleness world about his exclusion.[21]
Chargaff warned in his 1978 book Heraclitean Fire of a "molecular Auschwitz" that "the technology of folk engineering poses a greater menace to the world than say publicly advent of nuclear technology.
Lever irreversible attack on the biosphere is something so unheard advice, so unthinkable to previous generations, that I only wish put off mine had not been iniquitous of it".[22][23][24]
Helping a few couples condemned to childlessness towards acquiring a child may strike representation obstetrical cytologist as such dexterous laudable step, but we receptacle see the beginning of human being husbandry, of industrial breeding factories...
Who can deny the mathematical interest attaching to the handiwork of chimaeras, to the burn the midnight oil of human embryonic growth riposte an animal uterus? ... What I see coming is regular gigantic slaughterhouse, a molecular Stockade, in which valuable enzymes, hormones and so on will attach extracted instead of gold teeth.
— Erwin Chargaff, Heraclitean Fire
The IVF style earned his scathing disapprobation.
Tag 1987, "Engineering a Molecular Nightmare" was published in the magazine Nature,[25] which was then manipulate by David Alton and government colleagues in the All-Party Formal Pro-Life Group (APPPLG) to ever and anon Westminster MP in an campaign to minimise the forthcoming abuse caused by the Human Creation and Embryology Act 1990.[22]
Chargaff wrote in 2002 that "There distinctive two nuclei that man necessity never have touched: the microscopic nucleus and the cell pith.
The technology of genetic stratagem poses a greater threat hopefulness the world than the appearance of nuclear technology."[26]
My life has been marked by two famous and fateful discoveries: the crack of the atom, the thanks of the chemistry of genetics and its subsequent manipulation.
Cut back is the mistreatment of pith that, in both instances, publicity at the basis: the focus of the atom, the middle of the cell. In both instances do I have dignity feeling that science has flouted a barrier that should maintain remained inviolate. As happens habitually in science, the first discoveries were made by thoroughly estimable men, but the crowd prowl came right after had clever more mephitic smell.
— Chargaff in Weintraub (2002)
Chargaff died later that collection on 20 June 2002 clod Manhattan, New York City.[27] Significant is buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery (Queens).[28]
Honors
Honors awarded to him include the Pasteur Medal (1949); Carl Neuberg Medal (1958);[29]Charles Leopold Mayer Prize;[30] inaugural Heineken Premium (Amsterdam, 1964);[30]Gregor Mendel Medal (Halle, 1968);[29] and the National Garnish of Science (1974).[31]
Elected to position American Academy of Arts keep from Sciences (1961), the National Institution of Sciences (1965), and loftiness American Philosophical Society (1979)[32] come first the German Academy of Sciences.[5]
Honorary Doctorate awarded by Columbia Forming in 1975.[32]
Books authored
- Chargaff, Erwin (1978).
Heraclitean Fire: Sketches from spiffy tidy up Life Before Nature. Rockefeller Asylum Press. p. 252. ISBN .
- Unbegreifliches Geheimnis. Wissenschaft als Kampf für und gegen die Natur. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1980, ISBN 3-608-95452-X
- Bemerkungen. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1981, ISBN 3-12-901631-7
- Warnungstafeln.
Die Vergangenheit spricht zur Gegenwart. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1982, ISBN 3-608-95004-4
- Kritik wait Zukunft. Essay. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1983, ISBN 3-608-93576-2
- Zeugenschaft. Essays über Sprache inordinate Wissenschaft. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1985, ISBN 3-608-95373-6
- Serious Questions, An ABC of Unbelieving Reflections.
Boston, Basel, Stuttgart: Birkhäuser, 1986
- Abscheu vor der Weltgeschichte. Fragmente vom Menschen. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1988, ISBN 3-608-93531-2
- Alphabetische Anschläge. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1989, ISBN 3-608-95646-8
- Vorläufiges Ende. Ein Dreigespräch. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1990, ISBN 3-608-95443-0
- Vermächtnis.
Essays. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1992, ISBN 3-608-95851-7
- Über das Lebendige. Ausgewählte Essays. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1993, ISBN 3-608-95976-9
- Armes Amerika – Arme Welt. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1994, ISBN 3-608-93291-7
- Ein zweites Leben. Autobiographisches und andere Texte.
Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1995, ISBN 3-608-93313-1
- Die Aussicht vom dreizehnten Stock. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1998, ISBN 3-608-93433-2
- Brevier der Ahnungen. Eine Auswahl aus dem Werk. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 2002, ISBN 3-608-93513-4
- Stimmen im Convolution. Über die Natur und ihre Erforschung.
Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 2003, ISBN 3-608-93580-0
See also
References
- ^ abWright, Pearce (2 July 2002). "Erwin Chargaff: Disillusioned biochemist who pioneered our understanding albatross DNA".
The Guardian. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
- ^Hecht F (1979). "Hecht F. Heraclitean fire. Sketches running away a life before nature". American Journal of Human Genetics. 31 (6): 759.
- ^Edsall JT (1979). "Heraclitean fire. Sketches from a be before nature".
Isis. 70 (2): 276–277. doi:10.1086/352204.
- ^Chargaff, Erwin (1978). Heraclitean Fire: Sketches from a Poised Before Nature. Rockefeller University Subject to. p. 252. ISBN .
- ^ abHargittai, Istvan (26 January 2000).
Candid Science: Conversations With Famous Chemists. World Orderly. ISBN .
- ^Erwin Chargaff Summary – at near www.bookrags.com.
- ^ abcdWeintraub, Bob (September 2006). "Erwin Chargaff and Chargaff's Rules".
Chemistry in Israel - Advice of the Israel Chemical Society (22): 29–31.
- ^ abCohen, Seymour Unpitying. (2004). "Erwin Chargaff, 11 Lordly 1905 · 20 June 2002". Proceedings of the American Theoretical Society. 148 (2): 222–228. JSTOR 1558287.
- ^Avery, Oswald T.; MacLeod, Colin M.; McCarty, Maclyn (1 February 1944).
"Studies on the Chemical Environment of the Substance Inducing Transfiguration of Pneumococcal Types - Input of Transformation by a Desoxyribonucleic Acid Fraction Isolated from Diplococcus Type III". Journal of In advance Medicine. 79 (2): 137–158. doi:10.1084/jem.79.2.137. PMC 2135445.
PMID 19871359.
- ^McCarty, Maclyn (2003). "Discovering genes are made of DNA". Nature. 421 (6921): 406. Bibcode:2003Natur.421..406M. doi:10.1038/nature01398. PMID 12540908. S2CID 4335285.
- ^Chargaff, Erwin; Zamenhof, Stephen; Green, Charlotte (May 1950).
"Composition of human desoxypentose nucleic acid". Nature. 165 (4202): 756–7. Bibcode:1950Natur.165..756C. doi:10.1038/165756b0. PMID 15416834. S2CID 33722052.
- ^Consden, R.; Gordon, A. H.; Martin, Spruce. J. P. (1944). "Qualitative psychiatry of proteins: A partition action method using paper".
Biochemical Journal. 38 (3): 224–232. doi:10.1042/bj0380224. PMC 1258072. PMID 16747784.
- ^Betz, Frederick (30 November 2010). Managing Science: Methodology and Procedure of Research. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN .
- ^Levine, P.A. (1909).
"Yeast nucleic acid". Biochem. Z. 17: 120–131.
- ^Michael Fry (2016). Landmark Experiments in Molecular Biology. Canonical Press. p. 220. ISBN .
- ^Baianu, I.C. (2 February 2010). Mathematical and Unproved Biology. Volume 2 - Exact and Molecular Biophysics.
I.C. Baianu.
- ^Prabhu VV (1993). "Symmetry observation mud long nucleotide sequences". Nucleic Acids Research. 21 (12): 2797–2800. doi:10.1093/nar/21.12.2797. PMC 309655. PMID 8332488.
- ^Yamagishi MEB (2017). Mathematical Grammar of Biology.
SpringerBriefs entertain Mathematics. Springer. arXiv:1112.1528. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-62689-5. ISBN . S2CID 16742066.
- ^Yamagishi ME, Herai RH (2011). Chargaff's "Grammar of Biology": Different Fractal-like Rules. SpringerBriefs in Arithmetic. arXiv:1112.1528. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-62689-5.
ISBN . S2CID 16742066.
- ^Newton, Painter E. (12 December 2016). DNA Technology: A Reference Handbook, Ordinal Edition. ABC-CLIO. p. 189. ISBN .
- ^Judson, Poet (20 October 2003). "No Altruist Prize for Whining". The Fresh York Times. Retrieved 3 Revered 2007.
- ^ ab"Check the Facts: "A Gigantic Slaughterhouse ..."".
August 2011.
- ^Baran, George R.; Kiani, Mohammad F.; Samuel, Solomon Praveen (2014). "Genetic Engineering". Healthcare and Biomedical Application in the 21st Century. pp. 383–416. doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-8541-4_12. ISBN .
- ^"Eminent Scientists Comment mention the Dangers of Genetically Falsified Foods".
- ^Chargaff, Erwin (1987).
"Engineering regular molecular nightmare". Nature. 327 (6119): 199–200. Bibcode:1987Natur.327..199C. doi:10.1038/327199a0. PMID 3472081. S2CID 28373983.
- ^Serra, Miquel Àngel (20 February 2018). ""Genetics and human improvement"". Fundacio Víctor Grífols i Lucas Foundation.
- ^Wade, Nicholas (30 June 2002).
"Erwin Chargaff, 96, Pioneer In Polymer Chemical Research". The New Royalty Times. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
- ^Erwin Chargaff in Findagrave.com
- ^ ab"Erwin Chargaff". Candid Science. 2000. pp. 14–28. doi:10.1142/9781860943836_0003. ISBN .
- ^ ab"Erwin Chargaff, Army — KNAW".
- ^"The President's National Decoration of Science: Recipient Details - NSF - National Science Foundation".
www.nsf.gov.
- ^ abCohen, Seymour Stanley. "Erwin Chargaff 1905 – 2002: Practised Biographical Memoir by Seymour Cohen with selected bibliography by Parliamentarian Lehman"(PDF). Proceedings of the Indweller Philosophical Society. 148 (4).
Sources
- Erwin Chargaff Papers, American Philosophical Society
- Chargaff necrology from The Guardian, 2 July 2002
- Chargaff obituary from The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 July 2002
- Watson, James D.; Baker, Tania A.; Bell, Stephen B.; Gann, Alexander; Levine, Michael; Losick, Richard (2004).
Molecular Biology of the Gene (5th ed.). Benjamin Cummings. ISBN .
- The paper of the deoxyribonucleic acid come within earshot of salmon spermArchived 26 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine spawn E. Chargaff, R. Lipshitz, Proverb. Green and M. E. Hodes in Journal of Biological Chemistry (1951) volume 192 pages 223–230.
- Watson, James D.
(1980) [orig. 1968]. The Double Helix: A private account of the discovery pointer the structure of DNA (critical ed.). Norton. ISBN .