Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Book Review
  • Published:

Hershey heaven

Nature Structural Biology volume 8, pages 18–19 (2001)Cite this article

We can sleep later: Alfred D. Hershey and the origins of molecular biology

Edited by:
  • Franklin W. Stahl
Cold Spring Harbor Press, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, USA; 2000. 357 pages, US $39. ISBN 0-87969-567-6. | ISBN: 0-87969-567-6

When Alan Garen asked Alfred Hershey for his idea of scientific happiness, Hershey replied, “To have one experiment that works, and keep doing it all the time”1. The first generation of molecular biologists referred to this as “Hershey heaven.” Both Hershey's wit and his scientific achievements receive their due in We can sleep later: Alfred D. Hershey and the origins of molecular biology. This volume, edited by Franklin Stahl, pays tribute to Hershey through essays and reminiscences by scientists who knew him and includes a selection of his writings. The recognition, as several contributors point out, is long overdue.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. As quoted in Judson, H.F. The eighth day of creation: The makers of the revolution in biology, 275 (Simon and Schuster, New York; 1979).

  2. Hershey, A.D. & Rotman, R. Genetics 34, 44–71 (1949).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Hershey, A.D. & Chase, M. J. Gen. Physiol. 36, 39–56 (1952).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Avery, O.T., MacLeod, C.M. & McCarty, M. J. Exp. Med. 79, 137–158 (1944).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Hershey, A.D., ed. The bacteriophage lambda. (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, New York; 1971).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Cairns, J., Stent, G.S. & Watson, J.D. Phage and the origins of molecular biology. (Cold Spring Harbor Press, Cold Spring Harbor, New York; 1966).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Kendrew, J. Sci. Am. 216, 141–43 (1967).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Stent, G.S. Science 160, 390–395 (1968).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Lwoff, A. & Ullmann, A. Origins of molecular biology: A tribute to Jacques Monod. (Academic Press, New York; 1979).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Department of History and Program in History of Science, Princeton University, Princeton, 08544, New Jersey, USA

    Angela N. H. Creager

Authors
  1. Angela N. H. Creager
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Creager, A. Hershey heaven. Nat Struct Mol Biol 8, 18–19 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/82991

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/82991

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing