Double Helix: How an Image Sparked the Discovery of the Secret of Life

Double Helix: How an Image Sparked the Discovery of the Secret of Life — page 1
structure of the DNA molecule would help answer a great mystery of life How do organisms live grow develop and survive generation after generation Watson thought the answer might lie in DNA Questions about the mysterious molecule had brought him across the Atlantic Ocean to labs in Europe three years earlier It was well known that DNA was composed of a few basic parts phosphate and sugar molecules that were linked to form chains Scientists also knew that DNA contained four types of nitrogen-based molecules called bases adenine cytosine guanine and thymine But how did these simple building blocks all fit together King George IV and the Duke of Wellington founded King’s College London in 1829 It is part of the University of London Watson burst into King’s physics labs eager to share a new scientific paper written by Linus Pauling of the California Institute of Technology It described how these simple parts could build a DNA molecule Twenty-four-year old Watson admired Pauling the 51-year-old chemist who had discovered that protein molecules could take the shape of a coil called an alpha helix In a 1950 lecture Pauling had presented his model of the single staircase-like structure and received worldwide praise There was