 James D. Watson: Journey
into the World of DNA
April 12 - October 14
Faculty
of Science B-Block Atrium
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 An exhibition consisting of documents
pertaining to the history of molecular biology and the scientific life of James D. Watson,
the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who (along with his collaborator Francis Crick) is
credited with determining the structure of the DNA molecule, will be opening on Wednesday,
April 12 in the Bilkent Faculty of Science.
Watson, one of the most influential researchers in the short history of the field of
genetics, was born in Chicago in 1928. A precocious student, he entered the University of
Chicago at the age of 15. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology four years
later, and went on to earn a Ph.D. in the same subject at Indiana University.
In 1950, Watson joined the Cavendish laboratories at a time when several researchers were
racing to determine the structure of DNA. In 1953, Crick and Watson proposed that this
structure was a winding double helix in which pairs of bases held the two strands
together. The Watson-Crick model of the DNA double helix provided enormous impetus for
research in the emerging fields of molecular genetics and biochemistry, and Crick, Watson,
and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962.
The exhibition, which was displayed in New York, Chicago, Zurich and Berlin on the
occasion of the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA, is now at
Bilkent and will be on view in the Faculty of Science B-Block Atrium until October 14.
EXHIBITION BROCHURE ( PDF )
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