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Eighteenth Annual Darwin College Lecture Series 2003
Changing Science and Society
Lecture 2 : 24 January 2003
The Discovery of the Double Helix
Professor Sir Aaron Klug
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge
The structure of the DNA double helix, with its complementary base pairing, is one of
the greatest discoveries in biology in the 20th Century. It was also most dramatic, since,
quite unexpectedly, the structure itself pointed to the way in which a DNA molecule might
replicate itself, and hence revealed the "secret of life". The structure was solved in the
Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge by Francis Crick and James Watson, using X-ray diffraction
data from fibres of DNA obtained by Rosalind Franklin at King's College, London. The lecture
aims to tell the story of the origin of the research on DNA, the early experiments by Maurice
Wilkins at King's College, the sorting out of the two forms of DNA by Franklin, the wrong
paths taken, the interplay of old rivalries, and the final model-building by Watson and Crick
to give the three dimensional structure.
The initial, often hesitant, reception of the proposed structure, and its final
confirmation by biochemistry and X-ray crystallography, will be described.
Finally, a very brief summary will be given of the results of 50 years of research on the
complex "molecular machines" which carry out the two main functions of DNA, replication of the
molecule, and transcription (reading) of the sequence of the DNA to produce the RNA coding
for the protein product of a gene.
The lectures are given at 5.30 p.m. in The Lady Mitchell Hall,
Sidgwick Avenue, with an adjacent overflow theatre with live TV
coverage. Each lecture is typically attended by 600 people so you
must arrive early to ensure a place.
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