In this episode, geneticist Maria Naylor joins host Catherine Nichols to discuss James Watson and Francis Crick's 1953 paper "A Structure for DNA," for which they won the Nobel Prize (with many references also to Watson's book about the discovery, The Double Helix). The discovery of DNA's structure had a rich social context, which ultimately determined not only who got credit for the work, but who was effectively able to do it. Most notoriously, there was the malicious exclusion of Rosalind Franklin from the story, but this episodes also looks at how collaborations between scientists were facilitated or obstructed by rapidly changing rules about class, race, and gender.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices