mayrice snd wilkins and rosalind franklin

Who were they?

Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin were scientists who studied DNA using x-ray crystallography, which is an imaging technique that uses x-ray diffraction to study the molecular structure of a crystalline solid.

They captured many images of DNA using this method. The scientists had many disagreements and misunderstandings during their experiments, which slowed their progress.

When and where did they make their discovery?

Franklin and Wilkins studied DNA at King's College in London, England. In the early 1950s, Rosalind Franklin started her research on DNA structure. On May 6, 1952, Franklin captured her 51st x-ray diffraction pattern of DNA. Her senior

partner, Maurice Wilkins, sent their information to Watson and Crick in 1953 where the double helix was then discovered.

How did they experiment to find their discovery?

Wilkins and Franklin wanted to discover the structure of DNA and determine the molecule's shape and arrangement. They used x-ray diffraction, which means they were shining x-rays through DNA fibers.

The x-rays would be diffracted by the atoms in the crystal to provide information about the structure and to create a diffraction pattern. On the 51st photo, the diffraction pattern revealed information that Franklin used to conclude that the molecule has a double helix structure. They prepared this experiment by stretching and aligning DNA strands to get the best diffraction pattern.

What did they discover?

Wilkins and Franklin contributed to the discovery of the double helix structure of

DNA. Using x-ray crystallography, they captured a crucial image that revealed the helical shape of a DNA molecule, famously known as "Photo 51". The photo showed evenly-spaced markings corresponding to

pairs of bases in

DNA. This was important because the pattern indicated that the DNA twists in a spiral. "Photo 51" is an image of x-ray diffraction that provided key

information for Watson and Crick to later build their model of DNA.Post discovery

• Rosaland Franklin would die of cancer in 1958 as a result of exposure to X-rays

• In 1962 Watson and Crick as well as Maurice Wilkins (Rosaland's assistant) would win a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. The award was seen as controversial as Franklin was left out of winning a posthumus prize.

• Watson would continue to make large contributions in the field of science as in 1989 he became the director of the National Center for Human Genome Research (NCHGR) which carried out the human genome project

• Francis Crick would pass away from colon cancer on July 28, 2004 at the University of
  California San Diego

• James Watson is still alive and is currently 96 years old.

Impact of the discovery

• The discovery of the structure of DNA is one of the most important discoveries made in human history. It helped us understand how our genetic information is held and coded by DNA through the use of proteins

Without knowing the structure of DNA, it would be impossible to understand how our cells replicate our genetic information during interphase and how proteins are synthesized through the use of RNA.