The “scientific catastrophe” in nucleic acids research that boosted molecular biology

The distinctive profile of the double-helix DNA molecule is today, along with Rutherford’s depiction of the atom as a miniature planetary system, a worldwide-recognized symbol of twentieth-century science. The complex story of how DNA’s tertiary structure was determined is also well-known. Surprisingly, however, far less is commonly known about how the structural subunits of the nucleic acids—i.e. nucleotides, nucleosides, and the specific carbohydrates that distinguish DNA and RNA—were first identified and their connectivity ascertained.