🔬 The DNA double helix is worked out (1953)
Their metal-plate model is now at the Science Museum in London.
Where: Cambridge, UK
Nearby on the globe: University of Cambridge → 🌍 Open the 3D globe
📅 On This Day: February 28
February 28, 1953: The DNA double helix is worked out. On 28 February 1953, Francis Crick and James Watson in Cambridge, England, worked out that DNA, the instruction book of life, is shaped like a twisted ladder: a double helix. An X-ray photo taken by Rosalind Franklin was a key clue.
✨ More events on this day
- 1704 🔬 Astronomer Louis Godin was born in France; he led an expedition to the Andes in South America to measure whether the Earth bulges at the equator.
- 1835 🎨 Elias Lönnrot signed the foreword to the first Kalevala, a long poem he made from old Finnish folk songs about heroes, magic and a wonder-mill called the Sampo.
- 1901 🔬 Chemist Linus Pauling was born; he explained how atoms join together and is the only person to win two unshared Nobel Prizes.
🧠 Question of the day
What shape is DNA?
- A round ball
- A square box
- A twisted ladder
Show the answer
Answer: A twisted ladder
Questions
What happened on February 28?
February 28, 1953: The DNA double helix is worked out. It happened in Cambridge, UK.
In the game, the "Today on Earth" panel shows this story on its day, with a question to answer and a place to fly to.