The discovery of the structure of DNA was a culmative effort. After the discovery that the genes were paired, Watson and Crick suggested the first accurate model of DNA structure in the journal of Nature.
They found it in 1953.
It was a double helix.
James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA.
James Watson and Francis Crick
28th February 1953
the double helix twisted ladder structure of DNA
Watson and Crick did not discover DNA - it had been isolated, then called nuclein, in 1869. What remained unknown was the structure of DNA - this is what Watson and Crick proposed. After they came up with a structure for DNA (1953), they went to 'The Eagle' pub in Cambridge, just round the corner from their lab, and Crick announced to the other customers that he and Watson had discovered 'the secret of life'. The Eagle now has a plaque commemorating the event. They also wrote a letter to Nature, though presumably not while at the pub. Watson and Crick did not discover DNA. What they did was examine the data collected by others, and propose a structure for the DNA molecule.
crick
Watson and Crick used data from X-Ray crystalography as well as theoretical models on 3-D configuation of nucleic acids to deduce the structure of DNA.
They discovered the structure of DNA.James Watson and Francis Crick discovers the configuration of DNA in 1952, thus vastly expanding our knowledge of biological inheritance.Deoxiribonucleic acid.
Dr. Franklin, helped to discover the structure of DNA by doing x-ray crystallography of DNA. The DNA strands gave out a distinctive pattern which Watson and Crick were able to deduce as the helical structure of DNA. Without her picture of DNA, Watson and Crick would not most likely to have figured out the structure of DNA.
Before Watson and Crick could discover the shape of DNA, Swiss chemist Friedrich Miescher had to discover DNA in the first place. Later, Phoebus Levene and Erwin Chargaff would begin investigating the structure of DNA.