The Double Helix: A Personal Account Of The Structure Of DNA

The double helix: A personal account of the discovery of the structure of DNA is an account written by James D. Watson (1968), which describes the race to find the mystery of the DNA from the years 1950 to 1953. Watson manages to merge both the science with a fantastic tale to give a first-hand account about the journeys of the five main winners, namely, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin, Linus Pauling and himself. The race first begins when Watson, an American, finds himself in the Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University in 1951, to work alongside a group of scientists to work on the structure of protein. This is where he first met Francis Crick, his fellow colleague and main collaborator. Both Watson and Crick agreed …show more content…
Crick then points out as there are only a few possibilities of what the structure of DNA may be based on Rosy’s pictures, playing around with molecular models for a week should bring about the answer. Once a presentable DNA model started to form, Crick excitedly phones Maurice, requesting if he and Rosy could come and take a look at it. However, nobody shared Crick’s excitement as Maurice points out that their theory was not new and Rosy has not come across any evidence suggesting that DNA was a helical structure. Before Watson and Crick could do another round of testing, they were told that Bragg had decided that they had to give up the search for discovering DNA. Following this ban, Watson then proceeds to working on Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV). This was his way of indirectly researching on DNA as it has RNA in a helical structure, which could be similar to DNA. Watson then requests the help of Hugh Huxley to teach him the proper way of setting up an X-ray camera. In the beginning, Watson’s X-ray photographs were not very clear, but after perseverance, by tilting the X-ray machine at a 25 degree angle, Watson managed to obtain a perfect helical