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History–Tours
19511951–1953 · Cambridge and London

Discovering the double helix of DNA

The stone Gothic gateway of the old Cavendish Laboratory on Free School Lane, Cambridge
Photo: Spudgun67. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

At King's College London, Rosalind Franklin and her student Raymond Gosling made X-ray images of DNA, including Photograph 51 in May 1952. Shown her results without her knowledge, James Watson and Francis Crick at Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory built their double-helix model, which Crick announced in the Eagle pub in February 1953. Published that April, it founded molecular biology; Franklin's part was long played down.

Sites

  1. Site 1: The Eagle, Bene't Street, CambridgeThe pub where the discovery was announced, with a plaque by the door.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Old Cavendish Laboratory, Free School LaneThe laboratory building where the model was built.Map ↗
  3. Site 3: King's College London, StrandThe college where Franklin's X-ray work was done.Map ↗

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