Dr Watson, co-discoverer with Francis Crick of the double-helical structure of DNA, was responsible for suggesting the human-genome project in the first place.

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In the seven-page letter Crick told how he and James Watson found the copying mechanism "by which life comes from life".

BBC: Francis Crick and sketch of the DNA structure

Biologist James Watson and physicist Francis Crick realized our DNA molecules form a three-dimensional double helix in 1953.

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Watson and Francis Crick's description of DNA's double-helix structure, and in computing, with Jack Kilby's and Bob Noyce's independent inventions of the integrated circuit.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Ever since Watson and Crick first described DNA, genetic research was built around what was known as "the central dogma"--genes, written in the DNA, were recipes for proteins, which in turn interacted with one another to form the working guts of living organisms.

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