The Dragon Slayer

DNA Project

In 1953 there was the discovery of the double helix, a twisted ladder form of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick. This was marked as a milestone in the history of science and gave rise to modern molecular biology. This discovery was ground breaking on the understanding of genetic coding and protein synthesis. It helped the development current advances such as the mapping of the human genome, greater forensics and genetic fingerprinting, All their origins came from the Watson and Crick. The double helix also became a cultural icon being represented in visual art, jewelry and toys.

“Gene” was used in the 1950s as the smallest unit of genetic information, they did not know what a gene actually looked like structurally and chemically, or how it was copied. Oswald Avery, in 1944 had shown that DNA was the “transforming principle” Many scientists continued to believe that DNA had a structure too uniform and simple to store genetic information for making complex living organisms. The genetic material, they respond, must consist of proteins, much more diverse molecules known to perform biological functions in the cell.

At the early stages of their careers, Crick and Watson recognized that gaining a detailed knowledge of the gene was the central problem in molecular biology, without this knowledge, heredity and reproduction could not be understood. They went and seized this problem during their first encounter in the summer of 1951. They mainly relied on their brilliant intuition, persistence and luck to take on the tasks of taking in the fields of science such as genetics, biochemistry, physical chemistry, etc.

Other researchers had made important findings about the compositions of DNA, it fell to Watson and Crick to unify these disparate findings into a coherent theory of genetic transfer. Alexander Todd had determined that the backbone of the DNA molecule contained repeating phosphate and deoxyribose sugar groups.