Francis Crick

Francis Crick (1916–2004) was a British molecular biologist who co-discovered DNA’s double-helix structure and helped establish the central dogma of molecular biology.

James Watson: An American molecular biologist who co-discovered DNA’s double-helix structure with Francis Crick. Their collaboration produced the 1953 double-helix model.
DNA double helix: The paired, twisted structure formed by two complementary DNA strands. Crick and Watson’s model explained how DNA could store and copy information.
Cambridge University: A public research university in Cambridge, England, with a long history of scientific research. Crick joined the Cavendish Laboratory there after studying physics during World War II.
Molecular biology: The study of biological processes through the interactions of molecules, especially nucleic acids and proteins. Crick’s structural and informational ideas helped define the field’s research agenda.
Rosalind Franklin: A British chemist whose X-ray diffraction research revealed key features of DNA’s structure. Her diffraction data, especially Photo 51, informed the double-helix model.
Central dogma of molecular biology: The principle that sequence information generally flows from nucleic acids to proteins, not from proteins back to nucleic acids. Crick formulated this framework to describe directional information transfer in cells.
Cavendish Laboratory: A physics research laboratory at the University of Cambridge, later home to important molecular biology research. Crick and Watson developed their DNA model while working in its research environment.
Molecular genetics: The study of genes and heredity at the molecular level. Crick’s work connected gene structure with mechanisms of gene expression.
Maurice Wilkins: A British physicist and molecular biologist who used X-ray diffraction to study DNA. His DNA research connected Crick and Watson’s model to experimental evidence.
Genetic code: The rules by which nucleotide sequences specify amino acids during protein synthesis. Crick helped show that the code is read in nucleotide triplets.

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