DNA discovery marks 60th anniversary

As a memorial is unveiled to one of the two scientists who discovered the structure of DNA 60 years ago, Australian scientists paid tribute to them.

A memorial to British biologist Francis Crick will be unveiled by American James Watson at Cambridge University on Thursday.

The two colleagues described the double-helix structure of DNA in a seminal paper published in the journal Nature on April 25, 1953.

Their work set the stage for a molecular revolution, opening up vast new avenues of understanding about the genetic code, or 'Book of Life'.

Suzanne Cory, president of the Australian Academy of Science, said Professor Crick and Dr Watson's discovery was an epic moment in the history of science.

'It was learning about DNA at university that inspired me to become a scientist,' Professor Cory said in a statement.

'I wrote to Francis Crick asking whether he would take me on as a PhD student and, to my amazement, he said yes.

'The time I spent in his department at the famed MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge marked me indelibly.'

Jerry Adams, from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, worked with Watson at Harvard in the years following the discovery.

'The deciphering of the 'Genetic Code' in the late 1960s was a milestone,' Professor Adams said.

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DNA discovery marks 60th anniversary