THE HISTORY OF MOLECULAR GENETICS IN RUSSIA:

HISTORY OF SCIENCE ANALYSIS

Roman Fando and Maria Klavdieva S.I. Vavilov Institute for the history of science and technology,

the Russian Academy of Sciences

Moscow, Russian Federation

fando@mail.ru

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In the 1920s, a Russian geneticist N.K.Koltsov had prophetically predicted that hereditary

information could be stored in giant molecules.

Fig. 1. Nikolai Konstantinovich Koltsov.

Source: Archive of the Russian Academy of

Sciences. Fonds 450. Series 2. File 27. Item

37

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Fig. 2. Erwin Chargaff, 1930.

Source: Library of the American

philosophical society.

Through careful experimentation, Chargaff

discovered two rules that helped lead to the

discovery of the double helix structure of DNA.

The first rule was that in DNA the number of

guanine units is equal to the number of cytosine

units, and the number of adenine units is equal

to the number of thymine units. This hinted at

the base pair makeup of DNA.

The second rule was that the relative amounts of

guanine, cytosine, adenine and thymine bases

vary from one species to another. This hinted

that DNA rather than protein could be the

genetic material.

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Fig. 3. The nucleoside composition of fractions of DNA from calf thymus. Drawing

from the article ‒ Chargaff E., Crampton C.F., Lipshitz R. Separation of calf

thymus deoxyribonucleic acid into fractions of different composition // Nature.

1953. № 4372. P. 289-292.

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Fig. 4. A. N. Belozersky

at the beginning of his

career.

Photo from the article ‒

Skulachev V.P.

Scientist, strategist and

conspirator.

Academician Andrey

Belozersky. Unknown

touches to the portrait

of a genius //

"Schrodinger's cat" , no

4 (18). April 2016.

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Fig. 5. A. N. Belozersky in his office looks at the model of the DNA helix. 1963.

Photo By Vladimir Akimov

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Fig. 6. Sergey Mikhailovich Gershenzon.

Source: Institute of archeology of the V. I. Vernadsky Ukraine National Library.

Fonds 287. Series 1. File 20. Item 4

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Fig. 7. S. M. Gershenzon, T. V. Shandala and S. V. Subbotina. Institute of

molecular biology and genetics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1985.

Source: Institute of archeology of the V. I. Vernadsky Ukraine National Library.

Fonds 287. Series 1. File 20. Item 5

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Thanks for your attention!

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