Definition

Proper noun A United States molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. He is renowned for co-discovering the double-helical structure of the DNA molecule in 1953, alongside Francis Crick. This discovery was fundamental to modern genetics and molecular biology.

Usage Examples

• As the subject of a sentence: proposed the double helix model for DNA.
• In an appositive phrase: The Nobel Prize was awarded to , the co-discoverer of DNA's structure.
• Possessive form: book "The Double Helix" recounts the discovery.

Advanced Usage

• The name is often used metonymically to represent the discovery itself or a pivotal moment in 20th-century science.
  • The era before James Watson was an era of speculation about the genetic material.

Variants and Related Words

• Watson, J.D. Watson: Common abbreviated references.
• Watson-Crick model: The specific name for the double-helix structure of DNA they proposed.
• Co-discoverer: A term frequently associated with him, specifically referring to Francis Crick and, importantly, the often-overlooked contributions of Rosalind Franklin.

Synonyms

• Molecular biologist
• Geneticist
• Nobel laureate (in Physiology or Medicine, 1962)

Related Phrases

• To Watson and Crick: A phrase used to credit the discovery.
  • The structure of DNA was first described by Watson and Crick.
• The Watson-Crick pairing: Refers to the specific complementary base pairing (adenine-thymine, guanine-cytosine) rules they elucidated.

Noun

1. United States geneticist who (with Crick in 1953) helped discover the helical structure of DNA (born in 1928)