What Is Life? can be viewed as a well-reasoned theoretical prediction of what biologists should have been looking for during their search for genetic material. Both James D. Watson, and Francis Crick, who jointly proposed the double helix structure of DNA based on X-ray diffraction experiments by Rosalind Franklin, credited Schrödinger's book with presenting an early theoretical description of how the storage of genetic information would work, and each independently acknowledged the book as a source of inspiration for their initial researches. The book is based on lectures delivered under the auspices of the Institute at Trinity College, Dublin, in February 1943 and
Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid autobiographical account of the discovery of the double-helical, molecular structure of DNA called "The Double Helix", which was not publicly accepted either by Crick or Wilkins. Furthermore, Erwin Chargaff also printed a rather "unsympathetic review" of Watson's book in the March 29, 1968 issue of "Science". In the book, Watson stated among other things that he and Crick had access to some of Franklin's data from a source that she was not aware of, and also that he had seen—without her permission—the B-DNA X-ray diffraction pattern obtained by Franklin and Gosling in May 1952 at King's in London. In particular,