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double helix

Nature 421, 402-405 (23 January 2003) | doi:10.1038/nature01397

feature Quiet debut for the double helix

Robert Olby

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Past discoveries usually become aggrandized in retrospect, especially at jubilee celebrations, and the double helix is no exception. The historical record reveals a muted response by the scientific community to the proposal of this structure in 1953. Indeed, it was only when the outlines appeared of a mechanism for DNA's involvement in protein synthesis that the biochemical community began to take a serious interest in the structure.