How did Watson and Crick determine DNA's structure?
Our approach was driven by a desire for a simple, elegant solution, much like solving a puzzle. We built physical models, constantly refining them based on available experimental data—the chemical properties of the nucleotides and the diffraction patterns from X-rays, especially those produced by Rosalind Franklin. It was an iterative process of hypothesis and testing, always seeking the arrangement that best fit the facts. We weren't interested in complex, convoluted theories; we wanted the underlying physical reality. The critical insight was the complementary base pairing, which explained both the constant width of the helix and the mechanism of replication. It was about seeing the inherent logic in the molecular architecture.
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