Who initially confirmed that DNA is the genetic material of cells?

The identification of DNA as the genetic material of cells was significantly advanced by the experiments conducted by Hershey and Chase in the early 1950s. Their famous experiment used bacteriophages, which are viruses that infect bacteria, to demonstrate that DNA, not protein, carries genetic information.

In the Hershey-Chase experiments, they marked the DNA with radioactive phosphorus and the protein coat with radioactive sulfur, then allowed the phages to infect bacterial cells. Afterward, they separated the phages from the bacterial cells and measured the radioactivity. They found that the radioactively labeled DNA entered the bacterial cells while the labeled protein did not. This provided strong evidence that DNA is the hereditary material, establishing its role in heredity.

In contrast, while Watson and Crick are celebrated for the discovery of the double helical structure of DNA, they did not conduct experiments to determine that DNA was the genetic material; they built upon existing findings, including those from experiments like those of Hershey and Chase. Carl Linnaeus is known for his work in taxonomy, while Carl Woese is recognized for his contributions to the understanding of molecular biology and the classification of life, but neither was involved in confirming DNA's role as genetic material.