The tetranucleotide hypothesis of Phoebus Levene proposed that DNA was composed of repeating sequences of four nucleotides. It was very influential for three decades, and was developed by Levene at least into the 1910, and the diagram at the right illustrates the view of Levene and Tipson. In 1940, at the time of Levene's death, Bass wrote in his obituary
In that form there is an implication that the four bases are present in equal amounts in DNA, and small variations in the experimental values were assumed to be the result of experimental error.
However, Erwin Chargaff showed that the four frequencies were not equal, with variations consistent between different studies. Specifically, according to his rules the correct relationship is G = C ≠ A = T. The equalities G = C and A = T suggested that these bases were paired, this pairing being the basis of the DNA structure that is now known to be correct. Conversely the inequalities G ≠ A etc. meant that DNA could not have a systematic repetition of a fundamental unit, as required by the tetranucleotide hypothesis. Thus there was no reason why the sequence could not store information.
In later years some authorities considered the tetranucleotide hypothesis to have been harmful to the development of molecular biology. Bentley Glass, for example, called it a "scientific catastrophe".  More recently, Hargittai saw it in a more positive light, and  Frixione and Ruiz-Zamarripa wrote as follows: