The discovery of the DNA double helix is typically credited to James D. Watson and Francis H. Crick in 1953, based on key experimental data including X-ray diffraction images produced by Rosalind Franklin and contributions from Maurice Wilkins. Watson and Crick published their model of a right-handed double helix in Nature in 1953, proposing that DNA consists of two polynucleotide chains wound around a central axis with complementary base pairing (adenine pairing with thymine, cytosine with guanine) and a sugar- phosphate backbone on the outside. This structure provided a plausible mechanism for DNA replication and laid the foundation for modern molecular biology.
- Watson and Crick
- Collaborated at the University of Cambridge; built the physical model of DNA as a double helix.
- Their 1953 Nature paper proposed the antiparallel two-stranded helix with base pairing guiding replication, which explained how genetic information could be copied.
- Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins
- Franklin’s X-ray diffraction work, notably Photo 51, supplied critical evidence about DNA’s helical nature and width, influencing the correct helical geometry of the structure.
- Wilkins shared and interpreted experimental data that aided Watson and Crick’s construction of the model; the interplay and credit surrounding these contributions has been the subject of historical discussion.
- Recognition and later context
- The double-helix model explained how DNA could store genetic information and be copied with fidelity, transforming biology and enabling advances such as gene sequencing and biotechnology.
- Watson, Crick, and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 for the structure of DNA; Franklin’s contributions were not recognized with the prize due to Nobel rules, but her role is widely acknowledged in historical assessments.
If you’d like, I can provide a concise timeline of the key events, or summarize the roles of each scientist in more depth, including modern reevaluations of Franklin’s contributions.
