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Discovering the structure of DNA

April this year marks the 65th anniversary of Rosalind Franklin's Death, 70 years since the seminal publications on the structure of DNA by Crick, Watson, Franklin, Gosling, Wilkins and colleagues and DNA day, on 25 April. 

We are taking this opportunity to celebrate King's vital contributions to DNA research over the years, as well as our continued work in this area.

In May 1952 Rosalind Franklin and PhD student Ray Gosling captured the image of the B form that Jim Watson of Cambridge saw early in 1953, giving him and Francis Crick vital information for the building of their DNA model in March.

A paper by Franklin and Gosling, together with one by Dr Maurice Wilkins and colleagues from King’s, accompanied the announcement of Watson and Crick’s momentous discovery in Nature on 25 April 1953.

The making of Photograph 51

Watch Dr Geoffrey Browell, Head of Archives & Research Collections, talk us through some historic items from the King's archive.