Zeiss Opton Refractometer
date: label: date made
content: 1946-1953
name: label: user
content: Cohen, Stanley N.
label: maker
content: Zeiss
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Refractometers measure how light changes velocity as it passes through a substance. This change is known as the refractive index and it is dependent on the composition of the substance being measured. In the Cohen lab, this refractometer was one of several techniques used to provide evidence that he and his research team had created a recombinant DNA molecule containing DNA from both a bacterium and a frog.
label: Description (Brief)
content: To conduct the analysis, Cohen separated out the molecule he assumed to be recombinant DNA and measured its refractive index. The index for the molecule fell between the known values for frog DNA and bacterial DNA, suggesting that the unknown DNA molecule was a mixture of the two.
label: Description (Brief)
content: For more information on the Cohen/Boyer experiments with recombinant DNA see object 1987.0757.01
label: Description (Brief)
content: Sources:
label: Description (Brief)
content: “Section 9.4.2: Buoyant Density Centrifugation.” Smith, H., ed. <i>The Molecular Biology of Plant Cells</i>. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft796nb4n2/
label: Description (Brief)
content: “Louisiana State University Macromolecular Studies Group How-To Guide: ABBE Zeiss Refractometer.” Pitot, Cécile. Accessed December 2012. http://macro.lsu.edu/howto/Abbe_refractometer.pdf
label: Description (Brief)
content: “Construction of Biologically Functional Bacterial Plasmids In Vitro.” Cohen, Stanley N., Annie C.Y. Chang, Herbert W. Boyer, Robert B. Helling. <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences</i>. Vol. 70, No. 11. pp.3240–3244. November 1973.
label: Description (Brief)
content: “Replication and Transcription of Eukaryotic DNA in Escherichia coli.” Morrow, John F., Stanley N. Cohen, Annie C.Y. Chang, Herbert W. Boyer, Howard M. Goodman, Robert B. Helling. <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences</i>. Vol. 71, No. 5. pp.1743–1747. May 1974.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Accession File
label: Description
content: Refractometer with a “ZEISS / OPTON / Nr 128464 / Germany” inscription used in Stanley Cohen’s laboratory at Stanford University, for research on recombinant DNA. After World War II, the Zeiss firm was split into two parts: VEB Zeiss Jena in the east, and the Opton Optische Werke Oberkochen in the west.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Germany
label: associated place
content: United States: California, Stanford, Stanford
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Biotechnology and Genetics
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Stanley N. Cohen, MD and Stanford University Medical Center
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0757.28
label: catalog number
content: 1987.0757.28
label: accession number
content: 1987.0757
label: serial number
content: 128646
objectType: label: Object Name
content: refractometer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 21.7 cm x 33 cm x 16.7 cm; 8 17/32 in x 13 in x 6 9/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 12 in x 14 in x 6 in; 30.48 cm x 35.56 cm x 15.24 cm