![]() Crick and Watson depicted DNA as having a double helix in which A always pairs with T, and C always with G. ![]() Calculations from the photograph provided crucial parameters for the size of the helix and its structure, all of which were critical for Watson and Crick's molecular modelling work. Known as photograph 51, this image had been previously been shown by Maurice Wilkins, without Franklin's permission, to James Watson, who, together with Francis Crick, used it to develop their double-helix model of DNA which was also published in Nature. One paper, published by Rosalind Franklin with her PhD student Ray Gosling, included an image produced with x-ray crystallography, which showed DNA to have regularly repeating helical structure. Nature published Crick and Watson's letter on Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids Nature published Crick and Watson's letter on Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for DNA in which they described a double helix structure. James D Watson was born in Chicago, IL, USA This he did to encourage the development of personalised medicine. In 2007 he became the second person to publish his fully sequenced genome online. He left the project after campaigning against the NIH patenting the human genome. Watson also helped set up the Human Genome Project, which he headed up between 1990 to 1992. Watson is a molecular biologist and geneticist who helped to determine the double-helix structure of DNA in 1953, for which he shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Medicine. Under his watch Cold Spring Habour Laboratory became a leading research centre, not only helping to uncover the molecular nature of cancer but identify cancer genes for the first time. Awarded a Nobel Prize for this work alongside Crick and Maurice Wilkins, this research opened up a new understanding of biology and genetics, laying the foundation for the development of recombinant DNA which helped spawn the new biotechnology industry in the 1970s. Watson is most strongly associated with the determination of the structure of DNA as a double helix, which he published with Crick in 1953. ![]() ![]() Between 19 Watson headed the National Center for Human Genome Research at the National Institutes of Health and then returned to CSHL, from which he retired in 2007. From 1956 he took up several positions at Harvard University and in 1968 became director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), helping it become a leading insitution in genetic research. Soon he was collaborating with Francis Crick to unravel the structure of DNA. In 1951 Watson joined the Medical Research Council Unit at Cavendish Laboratories in Cambridge where several important X-ray crystallographic projects were in progress. Completing his PhD in 1950, Watson then spent a postdoctoral year at Copenhagen University where he continued his study of viruses and started remedying his ignorance of chemistry. In 1947 Watson began a doctorate in zoology at Indiana University, where he worked on bacteriophages, viruses that invade bacteria in order to reproduce, as part of research to understand the nature of genetic mutation. When 15 years old he went to the University of Chicago, graduating with a degree in zoology. EducationĪs a child Watson attended Horace Mann Grammar School and then South Shore High School. His son's disease awakened Watson's interest in understanding the genetics behind the disease. In 1968 he married Elizabeth Lewis with whom he had two sons, one of whom developed schizophrenia. Originally interested in becoming an ornothologist, in 1946 he shifted his ambition to studying genetics when he read Erwin Schrodinger's book 'What Is Life?'. One of two children, Watson shared a passion for bird watching with his father, who was a tax-collector. The son of American parents with English, Scottish and Irish roots, James Watson was born in Chicago. (Photo credit: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) Family
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