Who Discovered Dna
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The discovery of DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is credited to a trio of pioneering scientists: Francis Crick, James Watson and Maurice Wilkins. In 1953, the three men won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery.
The story of the discovery of DNA begins long before Watson, Crick and Wilkins took center stage. In 1869, Swiss biologist Friedrich Miescher first discovered a substance he called “nuclein,” which he later identified as DNA. The macromolecule’s structure and functions remained unknown for roughly the next 80 years, until the groundbreaking research of Watson and Crick.
As Crick and Watson developed their understanding of the structure and functions of DNA, Wilkins provided them with data he’d generated. He used X-ray diffraction to ascertain the size, shape and chemical make-up of DNA, allowing Crick and Watson to move forward with their model.
Ultimately, Watson and Crick proposed a double helix model, which showed how DNA strands make use of chemical base pairs to keep genetic information intact. Their model also indicated how the two strands of the helix could replicate using a process known as semi-conservative replication.
In 1962, the trio’s discovery led to the publication of an article in the journal Nature, which was the first to describe DNA’s structure. The article, entitled “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid,” has since become one of the most cited articles in the history of science.