Principles of Genetics and Breeding

1.2.3.1 X-ray diffraction

• Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin , another group tried to find out the structure of DNA at Kings College in London.
• They used X-ray diffraction to analyse the three- dimensional structure of DNA which revealed the helical nature of the DNA and indicated some of the key dimensions within the helix.
• Watson, in his early 20s came to Cambridge to learn about DNA. He met Crick, a physicist who at age 35 was retraining as a molecular biologist. Watson and Crick performed no experiments themselves. Their tactic was to use other groups data to build a DNA model.