Nature comes clean on DNA

As many of you probably know, controversy has surrounded James Watson’s and Francis Crick’s 1953 seminal paper on DNA structure since its publication. Most of the sometimes heated discussions have focused on the attribution of authorship, centering on the source of the data and on the identity of the person who actually originated the DNA double-helix model.

In an unprecedented move, just days before the 55th anniversary of the paper’s publication, Nature magazine has decided to correct this crucial historical mistake, and finally grant co-authorship to the person who, for years, has been rumored to be the real discoverer of the structure of DNA. Nature has now re-issued a corrected version of the paper, copies of which you can find below the fold.