Francis Crick Born: DNA Pioneer Unlocks Life's Code
He hadn't finished his PhD when he and James Watson figured it out. The double helix model of DNA — the structure that explains how genetic information is stored and copied — came in a flash in February 1953. Crick reportedly ran into a pub and told the regulars they'd found the secret of life. Maybe he had. The Nobel Prize followed in 1962, shared with Watson and Rosalind Franklin's supervisor, Maurice Wilkins. Franklin's X-ray images, which showed them the shape without her permission, didn't share in the prize. She'd died four years earlier.
June 8, 1916
110 years ago
What Else Happened on June 8
Galba was 70 years old when the Senate handed him Rome. Seventy. The oldest man to ever take the throne, and he knew it. He'd spent decades as a loyal general, …
The teenage priest Elagabalus, backed by his grandmother's gold and the loyalty of Syrian legions, defeated Emperor Macrinus outside Antioch after Macrinus's ow…
Attila the Hun breached the Alps and descended upon northern Italy, systematically dismantling cities like Aquileia to force a Roman surrender. This campaign cr…
Abu Bakr al-Siddiq became the first Caliph (successor) of Islam following the death of the Prophet Muhammad on June 8, 632 AD. His selection was contentious: Al…
The monks never saw them coming — because no one thought the sea was a threat. Lindisfarne's abbey sat on a tidal island off Northumbria's coast, seemingly prot…
Harthacnut collapsed and died during a wedding feast, ending his brief, unpopular reign over England. His sudden death triggered an immediate succession crisis …
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