DNA Day DNA Day National DNA Day is a holiday celebrated on April 25. It commemorates the day in 1953 when James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin and colleagues published papers in the journal Nature on the structure of DNA. Furthermore, on that day in 2003 it was declared that the Human Genome Project was very close to complete, and "the remaining tiny gaps [we]re considered too costly to fill." In the United States, DNA Day was first celebrated on April 25, 2003 by proclamation of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. However, they only declared a one-time
Rudolf Signer from the Thymus of calves, of which he took 15 grams of extraordinarily pure DNA to London. In England he gave it to various scientists, among them Maurice Wilkins, in order to promote research in the field. The analysis of X ray images of these DNA samples in Wilkins' laboratory allowed James Watson and Francis Crick to discover the double-helix structure of DNA. Rests of the DNA which Signer brought to England, survive today in the collection of King's College, London. Over 250 of Signer's scientific writings were published during his lifetime. The Lavoisier Medal was awarded to him for