MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – On this day in 1953, scientists James Watson and Francis Crick announced that they had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule that carries human genes.
Their work relied on X-ray images produced by Rosalind Franklin, though she was not credited at the time.
The discovery explained how DNA replicates and passes genetic instructions from one generation to the next. Watson and Crick’s finding went on to reshape biology, medicine, and forensic science.
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