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. <\/p>\n
A memorial to British biologist Francis Crick will be unveiled by American James Watson at Cambridge University on Thursday. <\/p>\n
The two colleagues described the double-helix structure of DNA in a seminal paper published in the journal Nature on April 25, 1953. <\/p>\n
Their work set the stage for a molecular revolution, opening up vast new avenues of understanding about the genetic code, or 'Book of Life'. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
'It was learning about DNA at university that inspired me to become a scientist,' Professor Cory said in a statement. <\/p>\n
'I wrote to Francis Crick asking whether he would take me on as a PhD student and, to my amazement, he said yes. <\/p>\n
'The time I spent in his department at the famed MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge marked me indelibly.' <\/p>\n
Jerry Adams, from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, worked with Watson at Harvard in the years following the discovery. <\/p>\n
'The deciphering of the 'Genetic Code' in the late 1960s was a milestone,' Professor Adams said. <\/p>\n
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