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Erwin Chargaff Erwin Chargaff, born 1905 in Czernowiz, Austria, was a pioneer in biochemistry contributing to the understanding of DNA. He, in 1928, earned his doctoral degree in chemistry at the University of Vienna's Spath's Institute in 1928. Erwin began his career in biochemistry at Yale University, working under Rudolph J. Anderson from 1928 to 1930. His early work included stories of the complex lipids, the fats or fatty acids that occur in microorganisms. Helping discover the unusual fatty acids …

…the basis of heredity. Finally, he concluded that the identity of combinations differs from species to species and that DNA strands differ from species. Overall, his findings were important contributions in biochemistry, including the addition of a key piece in the puzzle of the structure of DNA. This all led to major developments in the field of medical genetics, and, ultimately helped pave the way for gene therapy and the birth of the biotechnology industry.