What was Oswald Avery's discovery?
Similarly one may ask, what was Oswald Avery's experiment?
In a very simple experiment, Oswald Avery's group showed that DNA was the "transforming principle." When isolated from one strain of bacteria, DNA was able to transform another strain and confer characteristics onto that second strain. DNA was carrying hereditary information.
Subsequently, question is, how did Oswald Avery discover the transforming factor? Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty showed that DNA (not proteins) can transform the properties of cells, clarifying the chemical nature of genes. Avery, MacLeod and McCarty identified DNA as the "transforming principle" while studying Streptococcus pneumoniae, bacteria that can cause pneumonia.
Hereof, when did Oswald Avery discover DNA?
1944
Did Oswald Avery win a Nobel Prize?
Although many scientists acknowledge the impact of Avery's work on the field of molecular biology, Oswald Avery did not win a Nobel Prize. The reason might be that Avery never publicly stated that a gene is made of DNA. In his paper, Avery showed that DNA is the transforming principle.