The Structure Of DNA Two years of collaboration between James Watson and Francis Crick culminated in the creation in 1953 of a model of the molecular structure of DNA. The Watson-Crick model was used to explain how living cells reproduce, as well as how changes in evolution and gene mutations occur. The two Cambridge University researchers created a new science: molecular biology. To back their studies, they relied on studies of DNA that were being done at Kings College by Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin. In 1961, Crick explained how ribonucleic acid, or RNA, was as important to the process of genetic replication as DNA. In recognition of their research, Crick, Watson and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine on this date in 1962.
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