DNA
Saturday, April 25th was the anniversary of the Francis Crick (1916 - 2004) and James Watson (b. 1928) published article “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid.” It was published in the 171st volume of the scientific journal Nature describing the double helix structure of DNA in 1953.
Feminists love to mention the woman scientist, Rosalind Franklin (1920 - 1958), who was part of the team of microbiologists led by Crick and Watson. So, I will mention her name myself so I won't have to listen to any women repeating her name again. I know who Rosalind Franklin was. I knew it in high school after reading Watson's 1968 memoir, The Double Helix, and I don't need women today telling me again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again like they're telling me something new, or like there's a male conspiracy to hide her existence. Watson was criticized for under-stating or misrepresenting Franklin’s contributions to the research, but still …
There was a race on to discover and confirm the structure of DNA. I remember that the Nobel Prize-winning American Chemist, Linus Pauling (1901 - 1994), was working on a triple helix model.
How was the double helix model proven? It was proven by using X-ray diffraction and the mathematics of helices.
Here is the mathematical formula of a double helix:
Z(t) = t + k*pi
Technically, there is a caution that goes with this double helix formula, because the DNA double helix is not perfectly symmetrical. It’s not perfectly symmetrical because the Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine and Thymine molecules are slightly different. Molecular symmetry is important as a means of making predictions about their properties.