WatsonCrick

WatsonCrick refers to James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick, scientists whose collaboration led to the elucidation of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in 1953. Building on X-ray diffraction data from Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins, and on Chargaff’s rules of base composition, Watson and Crick proposed a right-handed double helix in which two polynucleotide strands run in opposite directions and are wound around a common axis. The two strands are stabilized by base pairing: adenine with thymine (A-T) and guanine with cytosine (G-C). The model implied that genetic information is stored in the sequence of bases and that DNA can be copied by separating the strands and using each as a template.

Watson and Crick published their model in Nature in 1953; it rapidly became central to molecular biology, helping to explain how genetic information is stored, replicated, and expressed. The work was supported by experimental data collected by others; Franklin's X-ray diffraction images, notably Photo 51, provided critical insights that informed the model. The discovery is generally credited with launching the modern era of genetics, and the concept of base pairing became a cornerstone of biotechnology and biomedicine.

Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of DNA. Franklin was not awarded the Nobel Prize, which cannot be given posthumously. Watson later wrote popular accounts and held various academic positions; Crick continued to contribute to molecular biology and later worked at the Salk Institute in California. The Watson-Crick model remains a foundational element of biology.