Double Helix DNA Discovered

25 April 1953, Cambridge, UK

Based on the findings of Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin at King’s College London, Francis Crick and James Watson (left) published their analysis of DNA, the molecule that contains the inherited information of cells, in science journal Nature in April 1953. The groundbreaking research identified how biological information is passed from parents to child, which in turn improved our understanding of things like hereditary disease. The core of this discovery was the double helix structure of DNA that helped to explain how it replicates and shares information. It was so elegant an explanation that the discovery is sometimes called the ‘Mona Lisa of science’.