In his own eyes, he was a natural philosopher, part of an extinct species of researcher. In the world of science, Erwin Chargaff was a pioneer in biochemistry whose demonstration that genes were comprised of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), was one of the most fundamental discoveries in the study of heredity. His accomplishments ranged over much of the field of biochemistry, including the study of lipids of microorganisms, blood coagulation, and the use of radioactive isotopes in the study of metabolism.

Chargaff was born in Czernowiz, Austria, which at the time was the provincial capital of the Austrian monarchy. Although he considered his education at Vienna's Maximilians Gymnasium excellent in quality, Chargaff found it limited in scope. Although his parents were not wealthy, having lost their money to an inflated economy, Chargaff successfully earned his doctoral degree in chemistry at the University of Vienna's Spath's Institute in 1928, working under...