Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Happy DNA Day!

Photo 51: X-ray diffraction image of DNA taken by Rosalind Franklin
On April 25th, 1953, Nature published three seminal (ha!) essays on the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid. The now familiar double helix of DNA was introduced to the world by James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin. Few discoveries have had bigger practical implications. Of course, the woman has never gotten the same credit as the boys. Amazingly, just 50 years later (to the day), the Human Genome Project was declared effectively completed.

So celebrate and swap some DNA with a biochemist today!

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