University of Vermont

Evolution 101


The Players:

Watson and Crick

As the story goes, the morning of February 28th, Francis Crick walked into the Eagle pub in Cambridge, England, and announced that "We (he and James Watson) had found the secret of life."  What Watson and Crick so boldly disclosed to this small group of men was the mechanism by which life passes on its genetic material, a double helix of nucleotides known as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).  The discovery of DNA built on early work on inheritance by Gregor Mendell and it provided evolutionary theory with a mechanism by which genetic information can be passed from generation to generation.  In biology textbooks this pivotal point in history is where the story of evolution begins , however the origin of evolutionary theory has its roots cast in geology not biology, and involves the work of everyday people who were able to use their keen sense of observation to actively explore the world around them.


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Last modified October 06 2008 01:56 PM
