“April 25, 1953”

On this date, Nature published the paper you are reading.

According to science historian Victor McElheny of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this date was a turning point in a longstanding struggle between two camps of biology, vitalism and reductionism. While vitalists studied whole organisms and viewed genetics as too complex to understand fully, reductionists saw deciphering fundamental life processes as entirely possible—and critical to curing human diseases. The discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure was a major blow to the vitalist approach and gave momentum to the reductionist field of molecular biology.

Historians wonder how the timing of the DNA race affected its outcome. Science, after years of being diverted to the war effort, was able to focus more on problems such as those affecting human health. Yet, in the United States, it was threatened by a curb on the free exchange of ideas. Some think that American researcher Linus Pauling would have beaten Watson and Crick to the punch if Pauling’s ability to travel had not been hampered in 1952 by the overzealous House Un-American Activities Committee.

© exploratorium