Francis Crick, DNA Helix Discoverer, Dies At 88

British Nobel prize winner Francis Crick, who with James Watson discovered the double helix shape of DNA, has died at the age of 88, associates said. The British-born scientist passed away at a hospital Wednesday in San Diego, California, where he had been battling colon cancer. On April 25 1953, Crick and Watson of the United States published in the British journal Nature their model of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), an intriguing molecule found in the nucleus of cells. They described a double helix, joined together by rungs comprising pairs of four chemicals, and humbly suggested it could be the means for copying genetic material.