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Double helix: 50 years of DNA "This structure has novel features which are of considerable biological interest"
In April 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick wrote these words as part of the opening paragraph of a Letter to Nature. As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the publication of the structure of DNA, Nature presents this web focus, containing a collection of overviews celebrating the historical, scientific and cultural impacts of the discovery of the double helix. All content is free, and over 2003 will include news, special features, and an archive including all the classic papers from 1953.
 
   
Introduction

Quiet debut for the double helix
Robert Olby

Francis Crick (1993)   The double helix: a personal view
Francis Crick
(April 1974)

Nature, nurture and human disease
Aravinda Chakravarti & Peter Little

Zoosemiotics, 1993, by Suzanne Anker   The Mona Lisa of modern science
Martin Kemp

The double helix in clinical practice
John I. Bell

The mosaic that is our genome
Svante Pääbo

Portrait of a molecule
Philip Ball

Jim Watson (1983)   Looking back
James Watson
(April 1983)

Life after the helix
Walter Gilbert reviews Watson and DNA: Making a Scientific Revolution
Beyond the double helix
The world of science is gearing up to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Watson and Crick’s seminal paper. But there’s more to DNA than the pair’s iconic structure. Helen Pearson profiles a truly dynamic molecule.

Rosalind Franklin   The double helix and the 'wronged heroine'
Brenda Maddox

Rosalind Franklin and the double helix
Aaron Klug (April 1974)

Ten years of tension: single-molecule DNA mechanics
Carlos Bustamante, Zev Bryant & Steven B. Smith

DNA in a material world
Nadrian C. Seeman

DNA replication and recombination
Bruce Alberts

Maclyn McCarty   Discovering genes are made of DNA
Maclyn McCarty


DNA damage and repair
Errol C. Friedberg

Controlling the double helix
Gary Felsenfeld & Mark Groudine

The double helix and immunology
Gustav J. V. Nossal

The digital code of DNA
Leroy Hood & David Galas
Click here for Nature's free archive, including all the significant papers from 1953, by Rosalind Franklin, Maurice Wilkins and others, and up-to-date news, features and reviews.

Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids
Watson J. and Crick F
Nature 171, 737 (1953)

James Watson and Francis Crick's classic paper that first describes the double helical structure of DNA in April 1953.

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