Crick’s Double Helix: 1953–

“Almost all aspects of life are engineered at the molecular level, and without understanding molecules we can only have a very sketchy understanding of life itself,” said Francis Crick. The most important discovery of the 20th century in biology, the model for the double helix of DNA required structural information from Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin, and key insights about structure and genetics from Watson and Crick. The concept that DNA is a code-script carrying information permeates all biology. It was followed by the most fertile period for discovery in the history of biology. Many brilliant minds were involved. Perhaps it is an over statement to call this Crick’s Revolution, but if any single figure was a focal point, it was Francis Crick. While he was rarely subsequently involved in experiments, he was a constant presence, a rare instance of a decisive role for a theoretician in biology. He continued to generate theories for the rest of his life, finally turning from molecular biology to the intractable problem of consciousness.