Title:

The Discovery of the Structure of DNA

Creator:

Crick, Francis, 1916-2004

Date:

[ca. 1959]

Description:

These lecture notes were likely prepared during Crick's appointment as Visiting Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University from February 1 to June 30, 1959. Note (p.3) Crick's mention of a mimeographed report by the Medical Research Council that gave the unit cell dimension of DNA, essential information for discerning the double-helical structure of DNA and the anti-parallel direction of its two strands. The reference was to the report by the MRC's biophysics committee on its visit to King's College's Biophysics Unit on December 15, 1952, which included a description of Rosalind Franklin's crystallographic DNA work and her determination of the unit cell. Watson and Crick were shown the report by Max Perutz, a member of the visiting committee, without Franklin's knowledge.

Original Repository:

The Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine. Francis Harry Compton Crick Papers

Location:

Box: 72. Folder: PP/CRI/H/1/42/2

Rights:

Reproduced with permission of the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine. and http://library.wellcome.ac.uk/

Genre:

Lecture notes

Subject:

DNA

Format:

Text

Extent:

6 pages

Language:

English

Legacy Source Citation:

Original Repository. Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine. Francis Harry Compton Crick Papers. 11646. URL. http://archives.wellcome.ac.uk/

Legacy ID:

SCBBFR

NLM ID:

101584582X63

Profiles Collection:

The Francis Crick Papers

Shareable Link:

https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/101584582X63

Story Section:

The Discovery of the Double Helix, 1951-1953