Francis Crick, James Watson and Maurice Wilkins

Awarded for

Discovering the double-helix molecular structure of DNA

The story behind the prize

Using X-ray images of DNA from Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin, Crick and Watson built a model of two strands twisted into a double helix, with bases pairing A with T and G with C. The structure showed how DNA copies itself and carries genetic information.

About

Crick and Watson built the double-helix model at Cambridge in 1953; Wilkins worked on X-ray images of DNA at King's College London.

Exam facts

• Rosalind Franklin's X-ray image ('Photo 51') was key evidence; she died in 1958, and the prize is not given after death