Francis Crick DNA crystals revealed to Crick that the two DNA strands were antiparallel. In January 1953, Watson was shown an X-ray photograph of B-DNA (called photograph 51), by Wilkins. Wilkins had been given photograph 51 by Rosalind Franklin's Ph.D. student Raymond Gosling. Wilkins and Gosling had worked together in the Medical Research Council's (MRC) Biophysics Unit before director John Randall appointed Franklin to take over both DNA diffraction work and guidance of Gosling's thesis. It appears that Randall did not communicate effectively with them about Franklin's appointment, contributing to confusion and friction between Wilkins and Franklin. In the middle of February
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