February 28, 2020
In the late 1940s, the ambition of the young scientist, Francis Crick, in discovering the secret of life started as soon as he began working with X-ray crystallography during the time he was at Cambridge University.1 In the early 1950s, a young American post-doctoral student with the name of James Watson collaborated with Francis Crick to investigate the DNA molecule. The two scientists badly wanted to find out the structure of the molecule and how it worked, because they thought that if they understood the mysteries of DNA, that could help solve many questions in science, including the one that Watson had: is the DNA molecule the reason for genetic inheritance? Is DNA responsible for passing traits on to an offspring? Therefore, during the 1950s, Watson and Crick began their investigation into this phenomenon of genetic inheritance at Cambridge University.2
Meanwhile, in London at King’s College, Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins were performing an investigation studying DNA by using the X-ray crystallography technique, which consists of beaming the X-ray through the DNA molecule, creating a crystalline sample. Franklin’s work on DNA clearly was the missing piece to the completion of Watson and Crick´s research into the nucleic acid—the DNA double-helical structure. The first image of DNA was taken in the early 1950s from the work of Rosalind Franklin and was crucial for the discovery of the Watson-Crick structure. The image of the DNA, named “photo 51,” showed the molecule in the form of an “X”, which was a remarkably important clue for Watson and Crick in their discovery of the double-helix structure.3
Watson and Crick were leading the race for the discovery of the DNA molecular structure and composition, among other groups of researchers. Watson and Crick were convinced that if they succeeded in finding the secrets of the DNA molecule (the structure of DNA), then the deoxyribonucleic acid role in heredity would be revealed and other questions in biology and biomedicine would be answered.
In 1886, the Monk Gregor Mendel had discovered the real biological genetic inheritance, which he named Mendelian Inheritance, a process that consists of passing traits from two parents to an offspring.4 However, he didn’t know why those traits were passed on from generation to generation, nor did he know what the genes were composed of. After the Mendel Inheritance Model, many scientists, including James Watson, wondered what allowed this phenomenon (passing traits from generation to generation) to happen. It wasn’t until 1943 when researcher Oswald Avery proved that a particular nucleic acid, known as DNA, was the carrier of genetic information, and so the crucial role of DNA in determining genetic inheritance was exposed. Unfortunately, no scientist knew how this process worked until the early 1950s, when Francis Crick and James Watson started looking for answers.
Natural scientists by the 1850s already knew that DNA was composed of chemical components consisting of phosphate, carbon sugar, and a nitrogenous base, including four amino acids (adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine).5 However, the structure was not yet established, so the information about the chemical components that composed DNA were very efficient for Watson and Crick, since their research consisted more on analyzing and collecting data that already existed rather than experimenting in the lab. Thus, they put all the relevant information together until they finally found the DNA structure.
But it was not until the year 1953 that James Watson and Francis Crick could announce their model of DNA’s double helix while they were in England, hanging out in a famous pub among researchers called The Eagle. Crick told each of the guys in the pub, “We have found the secret of life.”6
Indeed! Crick and Watson found the secret of, and they constructed a structure of, the molecular model which represented the now-known chemical and physical properties of the DNA.7 In this manner, solving the pulse of the molecular structure of DNA steered Watson and Crick to the right direction for the answer to their biggest question—is the DNA molecule the reason for genetic inheritance?
In fact, Crick and Watson found that DNA is the main reason for genetic inheritance; ultimately, the genetic material that is transmitted from a parent to an offspring is located in the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in the nucleus of the cells.8 The discovery of DNA´s double-helical structure has had an enormous impact on the fields of biology and biomedicine research. James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded with the Nobel Prize in Medicine in the year 1962. Sadly, the researcher Rosalind Franklin did not receive this prize regardless of her contribution to this discovery.
DNA
double helix
Francis Crick
James Watson
Maurice Wilkins
Rosalind Franklin
Nelly Perez
Crick and Watson became the spinoff scientific version of Holmes and Watson, except they decide to discover more about DNA. It felt like a competition to see who can research DNA more than the other competitors. No one really knew how inheritance worked which is why Crick and Watson decided to do some research to look for answers. Very interesting.
01/03/2020
7:29 am
Davis Nickle
The discovery of Watson and Crick laid the foundation for many aspects of modern biology. I really like how you gave context by using the past discoveries of Mendel and explaining the knowledge that was held at the time of Watson and Crick. I also really enjoyed that you gave explanations of what DNA actually does to help the readers understand the concept and the sheer importance the the duo’s discovery.
01/03/2020
7:29 am
Andrea Degollado
I found this article extremely interesting to read, which is very shocking as I am someone who hates science. I had never actually put much thought into how the DNA’s molecules were discovered or they importance that was put into them. I found this article to be very informative about the race for discovery of DNA’s molecular structure. Very well written article.
01/03/2020
7:29 am
Giselle Garcia
This article was very interesting to me as I remember learning about Watson and Crick’s discovery in biology class. It’s astounding to think that DNA’s structure was discovered only a few decades ago. The steps it took to figure out that DNA was a double-helical structure took a great deal of commitment. It’s also surprising that Mendel’s genetic inheritance idea wasn’t revealed until Watson and Crick started working on DNA.
01/03/2020
7:29 am
Melissa Garza
I am currently pursuing a minor in biology and when covering DNA, we very briefly went over the history of its discovery. It was very interesting to read about the race that took place. I always wonder how the public reacted to this type of ground breaking discovery. Imagine something this big being discovered and how the media would display it. It’s such a hard concept to grasp. Overall, great article David!
01/03/2020
7:29 am
Amanda Shoemaker
I really enjoyed reading this article. Without Rosalind Franklins discovery Watson and Crick wouldn’t have been able to identify the structure of DNA. In the small amount of time since their discovery we have learned so much about DNA. Watson and Crick’s discovery that DNA was the mode of inheritance has made such a huge impact on biology. I never knew that Watson and Crick relied mainly on others experiments and mainly just analyzed information rather than performing the experiments themselves.
01/03/2020
7:29 am
Ana Cravioto Herrero
This was a very interesting article! I learned a lot about this in high school and the history behind it(both freshman and senior year) and even though I am not interested in science whatsoever, it is still very interesting. This information is now such a big part of our lives and it has truly changed science and the study of genetics.
01/03/2020
7:29 am
Shriji Lalji
An interesting article. Biotechnology continues increase and play a more significant role in our lives. In fact in Steve Jobs’ biography he ends the book by predicting the next significant, booming industry will be biotechnology. Biotechnology already allows people to edit some genetics so diseases are not passed on. In addition, there is a big ethical debate on whether editing someones genes to create “the perfect child” is morally right. However, none of this biotechnology would be possible if it weren’t for Crick and Watson discovering the double helix form of DNA.
05/03/2020
7:29 am
Meadow Arriaga
The discovery of the DNA structure is so interesting and intriguing. This type of information has not been around for too long. Science since this discovery has gotten more complex compared to the years before. This has affected the way science is applied to the world. It helps us understand biology more than ever before. I believe this changed medicine and technology forever.
05/03/2020
7:29 am
Mia Hernandez
As someone who is pursuing a degree in forensic science and is interested in DNA and things having to do with genetics, I found this to be a very good article. This article provided a lot of great and useful information about the race in discovery for DNA’s molecular structure and composition and everything that is associated with it including genetic inheritance.
29/02/2020
7:29 am