Alfred Day Hershey (December 4, 1908 – May 22, 1997) was an American Nobel Prize–winning bacteriologist and geneticist. (wikipedia)
Year after year, the Nobel Awards bring a moment of happiness not only to the recipients, not only to colleagues and friends of the recipients, but even to strangers.
When I began playing around at being a physical chemist, I enjoyed very much doing work on the structure of DNA molecules, something which I would never have dreamed of doing before I started.
Virus particles contain single molecules of nucleic acid.
Physical studies of DNA had, of course, been under way for some years before analysis of virus particles began.
Joseph Mandell and I began by attempting to make chromatography of DNA work.
Different viral species contain nucleic acids that differ not only in length and nucleotide sequence but in many unexpected ways as well.
That's the nice thing about doing research. Whatever you do is novel, so you always have this sense of novelty, even if you are only using a new gadget.
Of course there are depressing periods when nothing appears to be happening. But whenever anything was happening, and even when nothing was happening, it was fun just to do phage experiments.
I can only point out a curious fact. Year after year the Nobel Awards bring a moment of happiness not only to the recipients, not only to colleagues and friends of the recipients, but even to strangers.
Actually, my correspondent's language is better than mine. He can put his sentiment into words.