Erwin Chargaff Papers, American Philosophical Society

Table of contents

Abstract

A biochemist at Columbia University, Erwin Chargaff discovered the base-pairing regularities or "complementarity relationships" of nucleic acids that provided one of the key steps in developing a structural model for DNA. During his long career, Chargaff is credited with conclusively falsifying the tetranucleotide hypothesis; demonstrating the existence of a large number of DNA species; and creating the first descriptions of hypochromicity, hyperchromicity, and the denaturation of a DNA. In addition, Chargaff conducted important research on blood coagulation, lipids and lipoproteins, the metabolism of amino acids and inositol, and the biosynthesis of phosphotransferases. He retired to emeritus status in 1974 and remained active in research almost to the time of his death in June 2002.

The Chargaff Papers are organized into seven series: I. Correspondence, 1931-1992 ; IIa. Grants, 1930-1982 ; IIb. Subject Files, 1940-1984 ; III. Works by Chargaff, 1929-1989; IV. Works by Others, 1936-1985 ; V. Research Notes and Notebooks, 1929-1951 ; VI. Photographs, 1935-1977.

Background note
Scope & content
Administrative information
Additional information
Added entries
Contact information
Collection overview
- Series I. Correspondence, 1931-1992
- Series IIa. Grants, 1930-1982
- Series IIb. Subject files, 1940-1984
- Series III. Works by Chargaff, 1929-1989
- Series IV. Works by others, 1929-1989
- Series V. Research notes, 1929-1951
- Series VI. Photographs, 1935-1977
Collection inventory
- Series I. Correspondence, 1931-1992
- Series IIa. Grants, 1930-1982
- Series IIb. Subject files, 1940-1984
- Series III. Works by Chargaff, 1929-1989
- Series IV. Works by others, 1929-1989
- Series V. Research notes, 1929-1951
- Series VI. Photographs, 1935-1977

Background note

Erwin Chargaff, ca.1930

One of the foremost contributors to a modern understanding of the nucleic acids, Erwin Chargaff was born in Czernowitz, Austria on August 11, 1905. After receiving a doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1928, he accepted a position at Yale University, where he became the Milton Campbell Research Fellow in Organic Chemistry from 1928 to 1930. From Yale, Chargaff returned to Europe for four years, spending 1930-1933 as Assistant in Charge of Chemistry for the Department of Bacteriology and Public Health at the University of Berlin and 1933-1934 as Research Associate at the Institut Pasteur in Paris.

After his early wanderings, Chargaff settled down to spend his most productive and creative years in association with Columbia University. Starting as a Research Associate in the Department of Biochemistry in 1935, he climbed the academic ladder to Assistant Professor in 1938 and Professor in 1952, eventually becoming departmental chair (1970-1974), and receiving Professor Emeritus (1974).

After reading Oswald Avery's seminal 1944 paper identifying DNA as the hereditary material, Chargaff reoriented his laboratory to the study of the structure and function of nucleic acids and their components using the new chromatographic techniques developed by John Martin and Richard Synge. By 1950, in research funded in part by the Office of Scientific Research and Development, the United States Public Health Service, and the American Cancer Society, Chargaff made a discovery of critical importance, regardless of the source, the amounts of adenine and thymine were equal, as were the amounts of cytosine and guanine. The discovery of this distinctive pattern of base-pairing regularities in DNA (Chargaff's "complementarity relationships") provided a compelling rejection of the tetranucleotide hypothesis and demonstrated the potential for the existence of a large number of species of DNA, however Chargaff made little headway in unraveling the causes of base regularities. In later years, he argued that he had planted the seeds for the double helix in the minds of Watson and Crick during a luncheon meeting in May 1952 to discuss his results, however Chargaff himself failed to make the connections between these regularities and base pairing. In later work, however, he was credited with providing the first demonstrations of hypochromicity, hyperchromicity, and the denaturation of a DNA, and his lab also conducted important research on blood coagulation, lipids and lipoproteins, the metabolism of amino acids and inositol, and the biosynthesis of phosphotransferases.

From the late 1950s, Chargaff grew increasingly disillusioned with molecular biology, the field that he had helped found, lamenting what he perceived as the subordination of biochemistry to molecular pursuits, famously accusing molecular biologists of practicing biochemistry without a license. In later life, he became an outspoken critic of the newer biotechnologies involving cloning, genetic manipulation, and gene transfer, decrying the poverty of bioethical standards in the field and claiming that molecular biology was "running riot and doing things that can never be justified."

Throughout his career, Chargaff regularly served as visiting lecturer and professor at other institutions, including the Wenner Gren Center at the University of Stockholm (1949); several universities in Japan (1958); the Universities of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and Recife in Brazil (1959); and the Collège de France, where he held the Albert Einstein Chair (1965). He gave the Plenary Congress Lecture at the International Biochemistry Congress in Vienna (1958); the Harvey Society Lecture (1956); the Jesup Lectures at Columbia University (1959); and the Miescher Memorial Lecture in Basel (1969). He was on the Committee on Growth of the National Research Council (1952-1954), and he was also on the Advisory Council on Biology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (1958-1967). His numerous awards and honors include the Pasteur Medal (1949), the Carl Neuberg Medal (1958), the Société de Chimie Biologique Medal (1961), the Charles Leopold Mayer Prize (1963), the H.P. Heineken Prize (1964), the Bertner Foundation Award (1965), the Gregor Mendel Medal (1973), the National Medal of Science (1974), the New York Academy of Medicine Medal (1980), and Columbia University's Distinguished Service Award (1982). He was also awarded an honorary ScD from Columbia University (1976) and an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel (1976).

Chargaff has been a member of the editorial boards for Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, Columbia University's Forum, and American Chemical Society Monographs, as well as a member of the advisory board for Experimental Cell Research. He was a member of the Royal Swedish Physiographic Society (1959), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1961), the National Academy of Sciences (1965), the American Philosophical Society (1979), and many other professional organizations.

Chargaff married Vera Broido in 1928, with whom he had one child, Thomas, and became an American citizen in 1940. After a falling out with the department at Columbia following his retirement to emeritus status in 1974, Chargaff moved his laboratory to Columbia's affiliate, Roosevelt Hospital, where he continued to work until 1992. He died on June 20, 2002 at the age of 96.

Scope and content

The Erwin Chargaff Papers (1929-1992) contain correspondence, grant material, subject files, manuscripts of published and unpublished works by Chargaff, papers by colleagues and students, research notes by Chargaff and by students, and photographs, which document Chargaff's career as a biochemist. The majority of the collection is in English, but there is a significant amount of material in German. These latter folders are marked "Some in German" or "In German," as appropriate. While the collection spans the years 1929 to 1992, the bulk of the collection dates from the 1940s to the 1970s.

The papers (113 boxes; 56 linear feet) are divided into seven series:

Name	Title	Duration aboard

Series I	Correspondence, 1931-1992	30 linear feet
Series IIa	Grants, 1930-1982	3.5 linear feet
Series IIb	Subject files, 1940-1984	1.5 linear feet
Series III	Works by Chargaff, 1929-1989	15.5 linear feet
Series IV	Works by others, 1936-1985	1.25 linear feet
Series V	Research notes, 1929-1951	2.25 linear feet
Series VI	Photographs, 1935-1977	1.75 linear feet
Series I-VI	Oversized materials	0.25 linear feet

Administrative information

Restrictions

None.

Provenance

The Chargaff Papers were donated to the APS by Erwin Chargaff in 1975. An extensive description of the original order of the collection was written in 1977 by Pnina Abir-Am for Survey of Sources for the History of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. To see this original description, consult the manuscripts librarian. In 1987 the papers were donated by Chargaff. Since then, additions have been made to the collection, and it is expected that further additions will be made. 1993-123ms.

Preferred citation

Cite as: Erwin Chargaff Papers, American Philosophical Society.

Processing information

Catalogued by Miriam Spectre,1993, revised 1998.

Other finding aids

The Chargaff Papers are also described in Lily Kay's Molecules, Cells, and Life.