LIFE STORY: THE RACE FOR THE DOUBLE HELIX
Category
Resource type
Nature of Science, Basic Concepts of Science, STSE
Historical Case Study
Scientific Investigation Skills and
Career Exploration
A2.2 describe the contributions of
scientists, including Canadians, to
the fields under study
Overall Expectations
D3. demonstrate an
understanding of
concepts related to
molecular genetics.
Prior Knowledge
Students have an understanding of:
 The concepts of DNA, genes, chromosomes, alleles,
 The Structure of DNA
 Chargaff’s rules
Directions

Specific Expectations
D2.1 use appropriate terminology related to
molecular genetics;
D2.2 analyse a simulated strand of DNA to
determine the genetic code and base pairing of DNA;
D3.7 describe, on the basis of research, some of the
historical scientific contributions that have
advanced our understanding of molecular genetics
(e.g., discoveries made by Watson and Crick)
Student Learning Goals
By the end of the activity students will know:

The history of the discovery of DNA structure

The importance of collaboration

The role played by models
This activity is to be completed after the students have learned about the structure of DNA, and
so will be familiar with the final goal of Watson, Crick, Franklin and Wilkins.
 It is a movie in 6 parts that lasts in total 40 minutes, on the discovery of the structure of DNA in
1953, with accompanying questions and discussion topics.
 It will also consolidate the knowledge of DNA’s structure and is an assessment for learning tool
to ensure students understand how the structure is formed.
Suggestions
 A review of DNA structure from the previous lesson, including Chargaff’s rules would be useful
 Teachers may show it all the way through, or, as described here, pause between each of the 6
sections to ask questions and discuss the issues presented by the movie.
Limitations
 This is one rendition of what actually happened, based on Watson’s ‘Double Helix’ book. As
such, some discussion of controversial aspects should be included: i.e. Franklin’s role, and the
difficulties facing female scientists in history. (This could be integrated in a follow-up activity).
 Although based on fact, it is also a dramatization and some of the conversations likely did not
take place, but were included to improve the story.
 The film was made in 1987. Although Jeff Goldblum is still a recognisable and famous actor in
2011, some students may not appreciate it due to the low quality, and different style to today’s
movies. If this is anticipated, short segments may be used instead.
Modifications
 The film is available on youtube and on my wiki so individual computers could be used with
for special
headphones and a closer screen for those visually and/or hearing impaired.
needs
 Students may access it at home and may pause / rewind / replay sections as they wish.
students
 If the movie is played in 6 sections with a pause in between, it allows assessment for learning
through questioning and discussion. This also gives students more time to ask the teacher
questions one-on-one if need be.
Resource(s)
 The full movie is available at: http://molecular-biology-resource-binder.wikispaces.com/, or
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tYMtljlBg4
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOBaESBveDE&feature=related
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqToehUMZh8&feature=related
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvzp1wDVmjM&feature=related
5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iSodRyF4SI&feature=related
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASolzehbasQ&feature=related
Overview;
This is the full lesson plan that involves playing sections of the movie (I suggest in 6 separate
segments), with discussion questions in between. I have written transcripts of pertinent sections so
that teachers can remind themselves and digest this information without having to watch the movie
over and over again. These transcripts are not meant for the students, but can be integrated into
further handouts if necessary. A selection of quotes from the film that teach about DNA structure
are included after the Nature paper near the end.
If all the discussion questions are used, this will not fit into a single lesson, but all are presented
here such that teachers can pick and chose between them. After the quotes from the film that teach
about DNA structure, the questions are presented together in the form of a handout that can be
given to students during the lesson or to finish as homework, as you require.
This can also be extended beyond this lesson to look at bias and controversy in science, focussing
on women in science in the 1950s, compared to women in science today.
Teacher’s Notes;
Review the structure of DNA, and Chargaff’s ratios from the previous lesson.
Introduce the first video;
What you will see is James Watson talking with his sister while on a Symposium in Naples. He’s
trying to get his sister to befriend Maurice Wilkins…..
 http://molecular-biology-resource-binder.wikispaces.com/, or
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tYMtljlBg4
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1:50 to 2:30 outside by the ruins in Naples.
Meeting other scientists at conferences face to face (‘networking’) is one of the main ways scientists forge
collaborations.
Watson to sister:
 “You look like Mum, your children will look like you – there has to be something that knows –
something that doesn’t die when you die, your piece of immortality, right?
 It has to be in every living cell.
 It has to be proteins, or it has to be the nucleic acids. I says it’s the acids, I say it’ the DNA.
 No-one knows anything, this is off the map.
 Somebody has to guess, right?
 Chapter 1, Page 1. Once upon a time life reproduced life – How!
 The secret of creation, worth the Nobel Prize!”.
a) What do you think Watson means when he says ‘your piece of immortality’ at the start of the
film?
b) Why do you think Watson is so keen to meet Wilkins?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3:20 to 4:07 – Wilkins’ Lecture at the Symposium
“DNA fibres could be drawn out and lined up then an X-ray can be taken of it – called X-ray
crystallography.”
“This showed a crystalline substance with a precise structural regularity, raising the possibility
that the structure of the gene itself can be determined.”
c) Why do you think Watson was so excited by the possibility that DNA has a precise structural
regularity?
d) With the knowledge you now have of genes and DNA, can you think of anything wrong with
Wilkins’ statement that ‘raising the possibility that the structure of the gene itself can be
determined’? (i.e. the gene itself was thought to be an independent entity, whereas it’s actually a
sequence held in your DNA).
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5:05 to 5:20 – Back at the ruins in Nantes
Watson to Wilkins:
“Blessed are those who believed before there was any evidence”
Wilkins:
“Evidence for what?”
Watson:
“That DNA holds the genetic secret”.
e) What do you think ‘the genetic secret’ is?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Second Video:
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOBaESBveDE&feature=related
0:40 to 1:00
In Paris. Vittorio Luzzati speaks with Rosalind Franklin:
 “Have you met him yet?”
o “No, not yet. He’ll be no substitute for you Vittorio. Why am I leaving Paris?”
 “My dear Rosalind, you must turn your back on thoughts of pleasure. We are the monks of
science”
o “And the Nuns!”
f) What do you think Vittorio means by “We are the monks of science”?
g) Can you think of any other words to describe what he means?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1:25 to 1:37

Rosalind Franklin in the café in Paris with colleagues
“The charm of fame is so great that we like every object to which it is attached. Even death!”.
h) Why do you think this statement was put in the film? What impression of scientists were the
scriptwriters trying to convey?
i) What is your impression of Rosalind Franklin?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5:00 to 5:20


William Bragg speaks to James Watson
“23 and a Phd. to your name – Perutz! You might introduce this young man to Crick!”
o “Who’s Crick?”
“Crick is the bright hope of the Cavendish.”

“The bright hope shared by us all is that … how shall I put it … he’ll fulfill his early promise
before it get’s late.”
j)
Who is the bright hope?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6:30 to 7:23








Francis Crick to James Watson
“What’s the point of science if it isn’t fun.”
o “So, what’s fun?”
“The big questions;
What is man?
What is life?
How do we come to be the way we are?”
o “Big questions alright.”
“Yeah, big questions get big answers. We can blow ourselves up but we still don’t know how we
reproduce ourselves.”
o “Are you interested in genes?”
“Certainly”
o “Where would you look for a gene, if you were looking.”
“My hunch is the nucleic acid. If you ask me what’s fun, right now, I’d say DNA.”
o “Me too.”
k) Do you think any of the big questions have been answered now we know the structure of DNA?
l)
Do you think we perceive ourselves any differently now that we know the structure of DNA? (i.e.
do you think we understand more what ‘life’ is, now that we know the molecules we’re made of).
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Third Video
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqToehUMZh8&feature=related
1:30 to 1:55



Wilkins and colleagues in the pub – London
“After all, Raymond and I did start this work on DNA.
She seems to think that what she does is none of my business.”
o “I think the ways she sees it, she’s been taken on to set up an X-ray diffraction unit to
work on DNA, and as far as that goes, she’s in charge.”
“Is that what Randall told you?”
o “I don’t know…”
m) What are the possible reasons why Rosalind didn’t want to tell Wilkins about her work.”
2:45 to 3:24
Watson, Crick, Perutz and a colleague in ‘The Eagle’ (pub).
Watson -
“I don’t see why DNA should take a lifetime. Maurice Wilkins says it is a crystalline
structure.”
“You know Maurice?”
Crick -
Watson Crick Watson Crick Watson Colleague Crick Watson Perutz Crick Watson Crick –
Watson Crick -
“Kind of – we met at a conference in Naples.”
“I’ve known Maurice since the war.”
“This is how we do it – here.” (points to photo of Linus Pauling).
“Ah, the mighty Linus Pauling.”
“He didn’t take a lifetime, one brilliant guess and zapo, he discovers the alpha helix.”
“One brilliant guess, plus a lifetime’s knowledge, plus, he’s a genius.”
“Bragg was hopping mad after missing that.”
“With DNA we can build a model.”
“Then I think you should consider obtaining some data first – no bricks without straw.”
“Maurice Wilkins has data on DNA.”
“Does he build models?”
“Oh – not Maurice’s style – too showy.”
“Then he won’t mind if we have a go will he.”
“We’re having a go are we?”
To introduce to the class;
Linus Pauling was a brilliant scientist in quantum chemistry and molecular biology. He won 2 Nobel
prizes and, whilst discovering the structure of haemoglobin, discovered the important protein structures
the alpha helix and beta sheet. He also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962 for his role in nuclear
disarmament.
n) What do you think the advantages of making a model are?
o) Watson said ‘one brilliant guess and, zapo, he discovers the alpha helix’. Do you think it was a
guess? What do you think are the differences between a guess and a hypothesis?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fourth Video
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvzp1wDVmjM&feature=related
This clip focuses on Photograph 51, an X-ray crystallography photo of the ‘B’ form of DNA (there are 2
other forms – called the ‘A-form’ and the ‘Z-form’ of DNA. However, it is the ‘B-form’ that exists at
physiological conditions (i.e. conditions that are found in the body)). The photograph showed that DNA
was a double helix, but it did not show the positions of the bases and phosphate groups.
Taken from http://dvisible.com/2009/01/26/the-art-and-craft-of-scientific-design/, accessed 19th February 2011.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
0:58 to 1:46



Watson and Crick with one of their models.
“The phosphates are still too close – they’ll push each other apart.”
o “Well maybe the phosphates shouldn’t be on the inside – maybe they’re on the outside.
Try them on the outside.”
“That would be too easy.”
o “But why not do it.”
“Francis, if we put the backbones on the outside, how do we fit the bases together on the inside,
how are we ever going to do that.”
o “I don’t know. We’ll take care of the bases later. Just try it. That is the whole point of
building models”.
p) Why do you think the phosphates would push each other apart?
q) What do you think is meant by the backbone?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1:45 to 3:05
Watson and Crick walk with Maurice Wilkins.
Wilkins is funded by the same body (the MRC) as Watson and Crick’s boss, and so they were taken off
the DNA project. However, Wilkins is more open to collaboration and says he doesn’t really mind if they
make another model of DNA. He then lends them her report.
r) What do you think is Rosie’s ‘dog in the manger attitude’?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3:35 to 3:41
Watson and Crick with Rosalind Franklin’s report.
The ‘space group C2’ is based on photograph 51 – the distance between each turn of the helix.
s) Can you think of any other things that are ‘anti-parallel’? (e.g. roads).
t)
Would you have shown them Franklin’s work without telling her, if you were in Wilkins’ shoes?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5:20 to 5:42
Watson and Crick with the revised model.
“This chain runs up, and this one runs down. So, we have a helix.”
“We have two chains.”
“We have the dimensions.”
“We have the phosphates on the outside.”
“Which leaves the bases.”
“Which have to fit on the inside.”
“Which they don’t.”
“Yet.”
u) What do Watson and Crick know about DNA up to this point?
v) Why is it so important that the bases fit on the inside?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5:42 to 6:47
Watson and Crick in the library
“4 different bases, all different shapes, free to come in any order to carry the genetic code.”
“It’s like filling a Christmas stocking - it’s gonna be bulging”
“Can’t be bulging, it’s got to be pretty.”
“Remember Chargaff’s ratios, complementary pairing.”
“It’s either a master of complexity or so simple that we’re missing it”
At this point, Watson was trying to pair the bases like with like. Hence, being different sizes, the double
helix would bulge out for two of the pairings, and come in with the other two pairings.
w) Remember Chargaff’s ratio’s – what clues does this tell you about base pairing?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7:00 to 7:44
Watson with Peter and Jerry Donohue
Extra points to note; Rationing has ended for the first time since the war. Signs for the coronation of
Queen Elizabeth II in the UK, 1953, are up.
Watson Jerry Watson Jerry Watson Jerry -
“This is driving me crazy – there’s got to be a way to fit these together, only there isn’t.”
“Well, you’ve got the enol form – you got it from Davidson?”
“All of the text books.”
“They’re all wrong – take it from me. It’s one of those guesses that’s been repeated so
often it’s got the status of fact.”
“What are you telling me, it’s go a keto form?”
“Take it from me, try it like that. See what you get!”
This is an important lesson on ‘scientific dogma’ – i.e. things that have been repeated so often that people
believe it.
x) Where do your text books get their information from? Where do your teachers get their
information from?
Because the Hydrogen and Hydroxide groups would lie in different places between the enol and keto
forms of the bases, it meant that complimentary pairing was not possible, and therefore Watson paired
like with like. Now that Watson knew that they had the ‘keto’ form, then complimentary pairing could
happen.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
10:00 to 10:50
Watson and Crick celebrate. Rosalind Franklin celebrates too.
y) How would you react if you had found the structure of DNA?
z) How would you react if you had finished writing up a big project?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fifth Video
5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iSodRyF4SI&feature=related
0:25 to 1:00 ‘It’s Beautiful’ Crick with Watson and the model of DNA
“The secret of life itself.”
“Peel the chains apart and each chain reproduces the other.”
“One becomes two, two becomes one, generation after generation all the way from Adam and
Eve to you and me.”
“It never dies, Jim, it never dies.”
“One simple shape – the womb of humanity.”
“Endlessly, effortlessly fertile, dividing, reforming itself from the beginning to the end of the
world.”
“It’s the closest thing we’ll ever get to immortality Jim.”
aa) What do you think is meant by ‘the womb of humanity’?
bb) Can you think of any other words to describe the DNA molecule?
cc) Do you think they found the secret of life? What is life?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sixth Video
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASolzehbasQ&feature=related
0:00 to 0:50 Watson and his sister
“When you want something – want something so bad it hurts… and then you get it….”
dd) Have you ever had that experience? Finally getting something you’ve dreamed of for a long time?
How did you feel?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
0:50 to 2:10
Wilkins with Watson and Crick
ee) Why does Wilkins seem upset?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3:50 to 4:25
Bragg Franklin -
Franklin and Bragg
“This race, this winning and losing. It’s not the way I was taught to do science.”
“It doesn’t matter. This is what matters. Life is the shape it is for a purpose. And when
you see how things really are, all the hurt and the waste… falls away… What’s left… is
the beauty…”
ff) Why do you think science involves a lot of competition?
gg) What are the advantages and disadvantages of this competition?
Introduce the publication; available here: http://molecular-biology-resource-binder.wikispaces.com/page/edit/2History+of+the+topic?goto=&responseToken=0226516f761516773ef57285b1ced0f62
Ask the students to read it for homework and highlight any bits that are interesting, or that they didn’t
understand. What struck them about the paper?
Quotes from the film that teach about DNA structure:
Section One: Watson to sister:

“You look like Mum, your children will look like you – there has to be something that knows –
something that doesn’t die when you die, your piece of immortality, right?
 It has to be in every living cell.
 It has to be proteins, or it has to be the nucleic acids. I says it’s the acids, I say it’ the DNA.
 No-one knows anything, this is off the map.
 Somebody has to guess, right?
 Chapter 1, Page 1. Once upon a time life reproduced life – How!
 The secret of creation, worth the Nobel Prize!”.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Section Four: Watson and Crick with one of their models.



“The phosphates are still too close – they’ll push each other apart.”
o “Well maybe the phosphates shouldn’t be on the inside – maybe they’re on the outside.
Try them on the outside.”
“That would be too easy.”
o “But why not do it.”
“Francis, if we put the backbones on the outside, how do we fit the bases together on the inside,
how are we ever going to do that.”
o “I don’t know. We’ll take care of the bases later. Just try it. That is the whole point of
building models”.
Watson and Crick with the revised model.








“This chain runs up, and this one runs down. So, we have a helix.”
“We have two chains.”
“We have the dimensions.”
“We have the phosphates on the outside.”
“Which leaves the bases.”
“Which have to fit on the inside.”
“Which they don’t.”
“Yet.”
Watson and Crick in the library





“4 different bases, all different shapes, free to come in any order to carry the genetic code.”
“It’s like filling a Christmas stocking - it’s gonna be bulging”
“Can’t be bulging, it’s got to be pretty.”
“Remember Chargaff’s ratios, complementary pairing.”
“It’s either a master of complexity or so simple that we’re missing it”
At this point, Watson was trying to pair the bases like with like. Hence, being different sizes, the double
helix would bulge out for two of the pairings, and come in with the other two pairings.
Watson with Peter and Jerry Donohue
Watson Jerry Watson Jerry Watson Jerry -
“This is driving me crazy – there’s gotta be a way to fit these together, only there isn’t.”
“Well, you’ve got the enol form – you got it from Davidson?”
“All of the text books.”
“They’re all wrong – take it from me. It’s one of those guesses that’s been repeated so
often it’s got the status of fact.”
“What are you telling me, it’s go a keto form?”
“Take it from me, try it like that. See what you get!”
Section Five: ‘It’s Beautiful’ - Crick with Watson and the model of DNA
“The secret of life itself.”
“Peel the chains apart and each chain reproduces the other.”
“One becomes two, two becomes one, generation after generation all the way from Adam and
Eve to you and me.”
“It never dies, Jim it never dies.”
“One simple shape – the womb of humanity.”
“Endlessly, effortlessly fertile, dividing, reforming itself from the beginning to the end of the
world.”
“It’s the closest thing we’ll ever get to immortality Jim.”
Discussion questions related to the film ‘Life Story’
Section one: Introduction.
a) What do you think Watson means when he says ‘your piece of immortality’ at the start of the
film?
b) Why do you think Watson is so keen to meet Wilkins?
c) Why do you think Watson was so excited by the possibility that DNA has a precise structural
regularity?
d) With the knowledge you now have with hindsight, can you think of anything wrong with
Wilkins’ statement that ‘raising the possibility that the structure of the gene itself can be
determined’?
e) What do you think ‘the genetic secret’ is?
Section Two: ‘La Religieuse’.
f) What do you think Vittorio means by “We are the monks of science”?
g) Can you think of any other words to describe what he means?
h) Why do you think this statement was put in the film? What impression of scientists were the
scriptwriters trying to convey?
i)
What is your impression of Rosalind Franklin?
j)
Who is the bright hope?
k) Do you think any of the big questions have been answered now we know the structure of DNA?
l)
Do you think we perceive ourselves any differently now that we know the structure of DNA? (i.e.
do you think ‘life’ has lost some of it’s ‘magic’ now that we know what molecules we’re made up
of).
Section Three: Maurice and Rosalind.
m) What are the possible reasons why Rosalind didn’t want to tell Wilkins about her work.”
n) What do you think the advantages of making a model are?
o) Watson said ‘one brilliant guess and, zapo, he discovers the alpha helix’. Do you think it was a
guess? What do you think are the differences between a guess and a hypothesis?
Section Four: She Hasn’t Seen It.
p) Why do you think the phosphates would push each other apart?
q) What do you think is meant by the backbone?
r) What do you think is Rosie’s ‘dog in the manger attitude’?
s) Can you think of any other things that are ‘anti-parallel’?
t)
Would you have shown them Franklin’s work without telling her, if you were in Wilkins’ shoes?
u) What do Watson and Crick know about DNA up to this point?
v) Why is it so important that the bases fit on the inside?
w) Remember Chargaff’s ratio’s – what clues does this tell you about base pairing?
x) Where do your text books get their information from? Where do your teachers get their
information from?
y) How would you react if you had found the structure of DNA?
z) How would you react if you had finished writing up a big project?
Section Five: ‘It’s Beautiful’.
aa) What do you think is meant by the womb of humanity?
bb) Can you think of any other words to describe the DNA molecule?
cc) Do you think they found the secret of life? What is life?
Section Six: Conclusion.
dd) Have you ever had that experience? Finally getting something you’ve dreamed of for a long time,
and then finally got it? How did you feel?
ee) Why does Wilkins seem upset?
ff) Why do you think science involves a lot of competition?
gg) What are the advantages and disadvantages of this competition?