In next year's calendar of scientific events, occasions marking the fiftieth anniversary of the elucidation of DNA's twisted structure span continents, disciplines and dress codes. This mélange of events, listed in the directory that follows, is somehow appropriate when you consider the backgrounds and interests of the principals involved in the discovery.

Rosalind Franklin was a British biochemist who, according to a recent biography, was more comfortable living in France than in England. She worked at the University of Cambridge with Maurice Wilkins, a physicist born in New Zealand, using X-ray crystallography to discern DNA's structure.

They alternately competed and cooperated with another team arising from equally mixed disciplines and origins. James Watson was a biologist from the United States who was working with Francis Crick, an English physicist. In their Cambridge lab, the two used their knowledge of chemical bonds, as well as X-rays of DNA generated by Franklin and Wilkins, to solve the molecule's structure.

It is fitting, then, that events celebrating this finding are all over the map; literally and figuratively. They include genetic symposia in France, artistic exhibits in England and at least one black-tie dinner in New York. It is also appropriate that DNA-related meetings are scattered beyond places that have obvious geographical connections to the discovery of DNA's double helix. Contributions by scientists across the globe, from all disciplines, to the application of this ground-breaking work transcend — but don't overshadow — the finding that emerged from two English labs.

Everyone, understandably, wants a piece of the double helix. This year's calendar of events will help to make that possible.