In 1946, Luria made a finding that was destined to open up a new insight on how the stability of DNA is achieved (see Luria, pg. 96). What he discovered was that when, after UV irradiation, two or more "dead" phage entered the same bacterial cell, they often became alive again and produced normal live progeny.Luria S. E. "Reactivation of Irradiated Bacteriophage by Transfer of Self-Reproducing Units". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1947 Sep;33(9):253-64. This was the first example of reactivation of cells or organisms that had been damaged by radiation. He interpreted the reactivation, correctly, as a result of genetic recombination (see also homologous recombination). James Watson (future co-discover of the Watson–Crick structure of DNA in 1953, and winner of the Nobel Prize, 1962), was Luria's first graduate student at the Indiana University. As his PhD thesis project, Watson showed that X-rayed phage can participate in genetic recombination and multiplicity reactivation.
