In the late '50s many prominent scientists took up the challenge to break the 'code of life.' Marshall Nirenberg beat them all by solving the puzzle comprehensively by unlocking the mystery of how DNA information is passed from one organism to another. The groundbreaking nature of his research won him the Nobel Prize and also laid the foundation for the genetic discoveries of the twenty-first century. But, what exactly is the genetic code? And how did Marshall Nirenberg decipher it?   The answers to these questions and more can be found at  http://www.history.nih.gov/exhibits/nirenberg/index.htm

The exhibit provides interesting details under different sections, like Introduction, History, Scientific Instruments, Biographies, Glossary, and links to other websites. The Introduction section gives details of the 'coding race' between eminent scientists between 1961 and 1962. During this period there was intense competition between teams of eminent scientists to crack the code. However, scientists like Ochoa and others stopped working on the problem when they realised that Marshall Nirenberg's team was close to   complete the sequencing.

By 1965, Nirenberg, with the help of his colleagues, had become the first to complete the sequencing of the code. The language of DNA was understood, now, the genetic code could be expressed in a chart.

For his landmark work on the genetic code, Nirenberg was awarded the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He shared the award with Har Gobind Khorana of the University of Wisconsin and Robert W Holley of the Salk Institute.  Under the history section one can learn about the pioneering effort of Gregor Mendol, usually considered to be the founder of modern genetics. Mendel's pea plant experiments conducted between 1856 and 1863 established many of the rules of heredity. The history section also includes brief details on Identifying DNA, The Coding Craze, The Poly-U Experiment, The Code is Cracked, Universaility, Nobel Prize and Will Society be Prepared?

The section on Scientific Instruments contains details and photographs of instruments used to unravel the genetic code. And, these include the Spectrophotometer, Electrophoresis Instrument, French Press ( an instrument used to disrupt, or rupture, cells), Centrifuge,  and Multi-plater.

The biographies section provides brief sketches on the work of Marshall Nirenberg  and other eminent scientists like Anderson, W French who was known as the "Father of Gene Therapy,"   Bernfield Merton , who helped to figure out the complete genetic code, Francis Crick who in 1962 shared the Nobel Prize for his joint discovery of the double helical shape of DNA, Robert Holley  and Har Gobind Khorana who shared the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Marshall Nirenberg,  Leder, best known for his research in understanding the genes that carry the code for cancer,  and James Watson who in 1962   shared the Nobel Prize with Francis Crick, and a couple of  others.

The section on links provides a couple of links which includes one to A Science Odyssey at www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/dna/#. This site includes several interactive lessons where visitors simulate the process of DNA replication and protein synthesis. The rules of these processes are then explained in detail. The   glossary section of this website contains relevant genetic terms with a diagram of how they connect.  To know more on Cracking the Code, readers, perhaps, may like to browse this article 'How the code was cracked' at  http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/gene-code/history.html