Watson and Crick and DNA (Primary Sources of Revolutionary Scientific Discoveries and Theories)

For thousands of years, the human race has sought to understand how we grow and develop, what factors cause disease, and how our physical makeup affects our mental and emotional responses. It was easy enough for people to observe that physical traits, such as eye color, hair color, skin color, and facial features, were passed on from parent to child, but no one understood how or why this happened. The mystery was finally solved during the second half of the twentieth century. Scientists from many different scientific disciplines have contributed to the discovery and understanding of deoxyribonucleic acid, commonly known as DNA. DNA is the genetic code hidden within cells that determines exactly how a living organism will develop, grow, and replicate. Two men played a crucial role in unlocking this genetic code. James Dewey Watson and Francis Harry Compton Crick came from different parts of the world with very different attitudes. Watson was a bold young American who had already earned his Ph.D. in zoology, but he was something of a fish out of water when he arrived to work in the scientific circles of England. Crick, an English chemist, was twelve years older than Watson but still hadn't earned his Ph.D. He was considered brilliant but loud and brash. These two very different men found that they shared a personal ambition to be the first to solve the mystery of DNA. In the end, they arrived at the finish line together. Crick later noted in his book "What Mad Pursuit" that their success was "partly a matter of luck and partly good judgment, inspiration, and persistent application." This is the story of how they did it.