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Hershey and His Heaven book reviews Hershey and his heaven We Can Sleep Later: Alfred D. Hershey and the Origins of Molecular Biology edited by Franklin W. Stahl Cold Spring Harbour Press · August 2000 Hardback £30/$39 Jonathan Hodgkin lfred Hershey, together with Max strain to another was DNA. However, Avery napped twice a day (in a cycle that was Delbrück and Salvador Luria, was one and his colleagues were working with an convenient for phage genetics, but less so Aof the three founders of what was odd and difficult system, examining capsu- for human interaction), but reflects a final sometimes known as the Phage Church. lar antigens in Pneumococcus, and their important role for Hershey, as a stringent This was the group of brilliant investigators work was not easily extended, generalized and constructive editor of scientific papers. who in the middle of the last century real- or repeated in other laboratories. Avery He was one of the begetters of the mar- ized the unique experimental advantages of died in 1956, too soon to receive full credit velous 1971 Cold Spring Harbor mono- bacteriophages such as the T phages and for his work. There remained doubts as to graph The Bacteriophage Lambda, and “we lambda, and used them to discover an whether DNA could really be the complete can sleep later” was his exhortation to lag- extraordinary amount of the basics of answer, doubts which Hershey himself ging writers to get their manuscripts for this molecular genetics. The trio (described by shared, and he wondered whether there book in on time. That volume, and the first Hershey as “two enemy aliens and a misfit”) might be a further, or alternative, protein- in the series, The Lactose Operon, set the ended up sharing a Nobel Prize in 1969. based mode of inheritance. The results of tone for the long and important series of Each was seen to have a distinct role in the his experiment left few in doubt about the Cold Spring Harbor monographs, which church — Delbrück was the Pope, Luria importance of DNA. have had profound influence in the world was the priest/confessor, and Hershey was This story has significant resonance of molecular biology. It is particularly fit- the saint. Saints are interesting characters, today, in the analysis of mammalian prion ting that Cold Spring Harbor should hon- even to the non-religious, and this book disease, but now the boot is on the other our the memory of Hershey in this way. constitutes a worthy memorial to Hershey. foot — most of the evidence points towards Jonathan Hodgkin is in the Genetics Unit, It contains many essays and reminiscences an exclusively proteinaceous infectious Department of Biochemistry, University of from his associates, which provide a good agent for prion disease, yet it remains hard Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 portrait of an elusive man — taciturn, to exclude some crucial further component, 3QU, UK. rigourous, dedicated, almost ascetic, and perhaps a nucleic acid. In 1953, Hershey e-mail: [email protected] hence saintly in more than a few respects. made the barbed and prescient remark: The book also includes reprints of some “My own guess is that DNA will not prove of Hershey’s more important writings, in to be a unique determiner of genetic speci- particular the paper reporting the celebrat- ficity, but that contributions to the question New in hardback ed Hershey–Chase experiment (1952), will be made in the near future only by per- The Genetic Inferno: Inside the Seven which provided a wonderfully direct and sons willing to entertain the contrary view”. Deadly Sins pleasing demonstration that genes are Towards the end of his life (he died in by John Medina made of DNA. The experiment’s appeal lies 1997), he became interested in DNA-inde- Cambridge University Press, £17.95/$24.95 partly in its elegant use of radioisotopes to pendent forms of heredity such as cortical label protein and DNA separately, but also inheritance in protozoa. The Effect of Science on the Second in its reliance on simple equipment, includ- Hershey was responsible for many World War ing a kitchen gadget, the Waring blender. other important, rigorously executed and by Guy Hartcup Characteristically, Hershey included his tightly argued pieces of research on bacte- Saint Martin’s Press, £42.50/$59.95 meticulous assistant Martha Chase in the riophage, which are well discussed in this authorship of this and other papers; he said book. He is also remembered for the con- Proteolytic Enzymes – Second Edition that the experiment would not have been cept of ‘Hershey Heaven’.When asked what edited by R. Beynon and J. S. Bond possible without her abilities. his idea of happiness would be, he replied Oxford University Press, £65/$100 It is often remarked that the “to have an experiment that works, and do Visualisations: The Nature Book of Art Hershey–Chase experiment did no more it over and over again”.This is an idea that and Science than confirm what had already been estab- has become proverbial in molecular biolo- by Martin Kemp lished by the beautiful work of Avery, pub- gy and it strikes a chord with any experi- Oxford University Press, £20/$35 lished eight years earlier, which convincing- mental scientist. Many of us spend our ly showed that the principal and perhaps working lives searching for that happy Poly ADP-Ribosylation Reactions only component of the ‘transforming prin- state. edited by G. De Murcia and S. Shall ciple’ capable of transferring heritable The title of the book seems scarcely Oxford University Press, £70/$120 genetic information from one bacterial appropriate for a man who famously NATURE CELL BIOLOGY VOL 3 MARCH 2001 http://cellbio.nature.com E77 © 2001 Macmillan Magazines Ltd.
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