Oswald Avery

Oswald Theodore Avery was born October 21, 1877 in Halifax, Nova Scotia to Joseph Francis and Elizabeth Crowdy Avery. His father was a native of England and worked as a Baptist minister (“Oswald” 2001). When Oswald was 10, the Avery family immigrated to the United States and settled in New York’s Lower East Side, where his father became the pastor for the Mariner’s Temple (“Oswald” 1997).

As Avery was growing up he learned to play the cornet and he would play it on Sundays to attract people to his father’s church. He played so well that he won a scholarship to the National Conservatory of Music (“Oswald” 1997). In 1893 Avery attended the Colgate Academy. Then he went to Colgate University, graduating in 1900 with a B.A. In 1904 Oswald Avery received his medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University (�

��Oswald” 1999). Avery worked as a surgeon for three years before he turned to research.

This finding astounded the scientific community. Initially there was much skepticism, but through further testing it was accepted and inadvertently Avery helped built a strong foundation for future molecular biology. Since doctors now know that DNA is responsible for determining characteristics about people they can use it in many ways. There is paternity testing to determine a child’s father simply by comparing DNA through a blood test. DNA is also used in crime scene investigation. If a person is found and police are unable to identify them, they can use DNA to do so. They can even find a murderer simply by examining the DNA in a piece of hair or a drop of blood. DNA is also helpful in the treatment of disease. When scientists study the molecular DNA of bacteria they can figure out how it works and they can then produce drugs to treat it.

DNA plays an important role in everyone’s lives and I personally believe that Oswald Avery deserves a lot of credit for daring to challenge the idea that

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