Walther Flemming

Note: This is mystery cache, so the container cannot be found at these coordinates. You will need to solve the puzzle below to get the correct coordinates. Good Luck!!!

There are so many unsung heroes in the quest to understanding heredity. You may know the big names… like Mendel, Watson & Crick, Darwin, and Dalton.. But I'll bet you haven't heard of Erwin Chargaff, Nettie Stevens, Niels Bohr, Frederick Sanger, Rosalind Franklin, or Walther Flemming. This new series of caches is an homage to a group of Scientists who changed how we see the world. Let's get started with the late great Walther Flemming

Imagine for a moment you have traveled back to the 1860s. At this point in time, nobody on planet earth understands how traits are passed down from parents to their children. Sure Mendel's work on genetics in pea plants was completed in 1866, but his work would remain un-discovered until the year 1900. Amazingly, the field of Chemistry is still in its infancy with the first periodic table being proposed in 1869. DNA was also discovered by Friedrich Mieschner in 1869, but without any guess at what it's use is. There was so much that is unknown, which is a perfect situation for a hard working scientist. There was so much left to discover!

Walther flemming was born in northern Germany in 1843 as the youngest of five siblings. Walther graduated from Medical School in 1868. He used his medical training immediately as a Doctor in the Franco-Prussian war. The war was between the Prussian states of Northern Germany and France. Following the end of the war in 1871 Walther took a professor position at the University of Prague in the modern Czech Republic between 1873 and 1876. In 1876 he moved back to Germany to work as a professor of Anatomy at the University of Kiel, working there until his death.

Flemming's huge discoveries came through the use of Aniline Dyes, which he used to dye both dead and living cells. Walther used cells that came from Salamanders, Gills, and Fins for his experiments. The dyes he used stuck to what is now known to be the chromosomes, which are made of tightly wound DNA. He gave these structures the name "Chromatin." He watched the movement of these Chromatin as cells grew and divided. He called this process Mitosis, where cells divide and separate their chromatin. Walther chose the word mitosis because it comes from the Greek word for "Thread-Like." Indeed the chromosomes do appear like threads being pulled into new cells during cell division. His work was released in two publications, on in 1878, and in a groundbreaking 1882 book Cell Substance, Nucleus and Cell Division. His superb drawings of chromosome movement during mitosis were astoundingly accurate.

Though he contributed enormously to the study of heredity, he did not see cell division as the formation of identical cells, with the same copies of chromosomes. In fact he didn't have any guess as to what the use of chromosomes was. Flemming had no idea that a fellow German had already published a breakthrough paper on genetics in pea plants. Mendel's 1866 paper could have instantly explained the connection between Walther's chromatin observations and the rules of inheritance. C = 5 Sadly Mendel died in obscurity just two years after Flemming's book was published. Two more decades would pass before the significance of Flemming's work was truly realized with the uncovering of Mendel's lost research.

Walther Flemming also happened to be a generous and kind-hearted individual. He is famously known in Germany for work he did to feed the homeless. He donated over 20% of his salary to homeless shelters. Additionally he took time out of his research to teach the poor and underprivileged Math and Science. He died in 1905.

Nowadays, we know that humans reproduce when two gametes(one from each parent) come together to form a single celled zygote. K = 0 This single cell goes through the same Mitosis that Flemming discussed constantly to form a full grown human of over 30 trillion cells. Walther would undoubtedly would have been astounded to realize that the Chromatin he discovered was copied before each round of Mitosis. He would also loved to hear that Chromatin, later named Chromosomes are the very molecule responsible for heredity. While you are finishing up this simple academic puzzle, the same mitosis that Flemming studied is happening thousands of times a minute.

NAB CD.EFG W105 HJ.KLM

A = How many years did Walther spend as a professor in Prague?

B = DNA was first isolated in 186__

C =

D =

E = Gregor Mendel published is only paper on pea plants in 186__

F = Walther flemming was born in 184__

G = Dr. Flemming died in 190__

H =

J = A human being is made up of over 3__ trillion cells.

K =

L = Walther Flemming donated 2__% of his salary to homeless shelters.

M = Gregor Mendel died in 188___.

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