DNA Day is observed on 25th April each year in honour of the paper, Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid, published in the scientific journal Nature in 1952. The paper was authored by James Watson and Francis Crick and elucidates the structure of DNA. It is based on their research on X-ray diffraction of molecule.
The paper begins with the famous lines:
“We wish to suggest a structure for the salt of deoxyribose nucleic acid (D.N.A.). This structure has novel features which are of considerable biological interest.”
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Watson and Crick mentioned the contributions made by Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin whose research had lead them to the results – DNA is double helix with the phosphates forming the chain on the outside and the bases on the inside of the axis.
You can read the original paper at the Nature Publishing Group web site.
