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Key Players in the Discovery of DNA's Structure
Francis Crick
Photo: Nobel E-Museum
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James Watson
Photo: Nobel E-Museum
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Maurice Wilkins
Photo: Nobel E-Museum
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Rosalind Franklin
Photo: Harper Collins
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A breakthrough in James Watson and Francis Crick's work on the structure of DNA came when they saw X-ray images taken at King's College by Rosalind Franklin.
Maurice Wilkins, who was Franklin's supervisor and was working with her on X-ray imaging techniques of molecules, showed the image to Watson and Crick. Franklin's work was shown to Watson and Crick without her permission, which has created a lingering controversy. Some argue Franklin was close to solving the puzzle herself, and was cheated of recognition.
In 1962, Watson, Crick and Wilkins received a Nobel prize for discovering the structure of DNA. Franklin did not share the prize, but not because she was overlooked. Franklin died in 1958, and the Nobel isn't awarded posthumously.
Francis Crick
1962 Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology or Medicine
Born: 1916
Current Position: J.W. Kieckhefer Distinguished Research Professor, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Calif.
Rather than believe that Watson and Crick made the DNA structure, I would rather stress that the structure made Watson and Crick. After all, I was almost totally unknown at the time and Watson was regarded, in most circles, as too bright to be really sound. But what I think is overlooked in such arguments is the intrinsic beauty of the DNA double helix. It is the molecule which has style, quite as much as the scientists.
-- Francis Crick, "The Double Helix: A Personal View," Nature, April 26, 1974
Read Crick's 1974 article in Nature.
Read his Nobel lecture.
Bio, provided by the Salk Institute.
James Watson
1962 Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology or Medicine
Born: 1928
Current Position: President, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York
To succeed in science, you have to avoid dumb people. -- James Watson, "Succeeding in Science: Some Rules of Thumb," Science, September 1993
More quotes by Watson.
Listen to a Talk of the Nation interview James Watson. June 2, 2000
Bio, provided by U.K. Medical Research Council.
Bio, provided by Cold Spring Harbor, covering his recent accomplishments.
Maurice Wilkins
1962 Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology or Medicine
Born: 1916
Current Position: Emeritus Professor of Biophysics at King’s College London
Maurice needed but a minute's look at the model to like it.... Until the visit I had remained apprehensive that he would look gloomy, being unhappy that we had seized part of the glory that should have gone in full to him and his younger colleagues. But there was not trace of resentment on his face, and in his subdued way he was thoroughly excited that the structure would prove of great benefit to biology." -- James Watson, The Double Helix, A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA
Read Wilkins' Nobel lecture.
Bio, provided by Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory.
Rosalind Franklin
1920 - 1958
Watson and Crick seem never to have told Franklin directly what they subsequently have said from public platforms long after her death -- that they could not have discovered the double helix of DNA in the early months of 1953 without her work.
-- Brenda Maddox, author of Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA.
Listen to an NPR interview with biographer Maddox. Oct. 6, 2002
Read more about the controversy surrounding Franklin's role in the DNA discovery in an article by Maddox, published in Nature. Jan. 23, 2003
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