Templates from Crick and Watson's DNA molecular model, England, 1953
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Francis Crick (1916-2004) and James Watson (b. 1928) discovered the structure of DNA while working at the Medical Research Council Laboratory at Cambridge, England. DNA is made from pairs of four bases, cytosine and thymine (the pyrimidines), and adenine and guanine (known as purines). Each metal plate represents a base. Those with holes were used in Crick and Watson's original double helix model of DNA.
Object number:
1977-300
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Glossary:
Glossary: molecular model
a physical model that represents molecules and their processes and structures
Glossary: model - representation
Use for a scaled representation of an object or structure, usually three-dimensional. The item is often idealised or modified to make it conceptually easier to understand.
Glossary: DNA
DNA stores the information, or blueprints, of every cell and is located in the genes. It is made up of two strands which form a double helix that is linked by hydrogen bonds. It was first described in 1953 by Francis Crick and James Watson.