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The Secret Of Life
8:30pm Thursday, July 7, 2005
DNA tells the story of the race to discover the structure of DNA, and the scientists who changed our understanding of the world and everything in it. The five-part series, to be broadcast from Thursday July 7 at 8.30pm on ABC TV, also looks at the implications of the scientists' work for the future of mankind.
The scientists were a small group of pioneers who explored a world too small to see. What they found there answered some eternal questions - What is life? How is it made? Why are children like their parents?
DNA is without doubt the most powerful substance on Earth. The order of its chemicals determines whether a child has her mother's eyes or her father's smile.
But as DNA reveals, until 50 years ago, almost no-one knew of its existence. All that changed when two unknown scientists - Jim Watson and Francis Crick - ran into a pub in Cambridge shouting that they'd found the secret of life.
This declaration heralded a momentous discovery, not just for the human race but for the people involved. As this program reveals, it was one of the most heated scientific races the world has ever seen.
Dr Watson takes us back 50 years, guiding us through the tumultuous events that led to the creation of a double helix model being built by Dr Francis Crick and himself.
He tells how he and Crick beat all the odds to find the double helix first and win the Nobel Prize.
The program reveals others involved with the DNA story, including Maurice Wilkins, who helped create the atom bomb. He became disillusioned with the science of death and chose the science of life instead, by looking for the structure of DNA.
Documentary Subtitles CC G
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