Photograph above courtesy of the Science Photo Gallery.

1. In the famous Antony Barrington-Brown photographs of Watson and Crick with their original DNA model (above), Francis Crick is pointing with what item?

1. a ruler
2. a pair of dividers
3. a slide rule

2. In Watson and Crick's 1953 letter to Nature, who drew the diagram of the double helix?

1. Odile Crick, Francis Crick's wife
2. Elizabeth Watson, Jim Watson's sister
3. Tony Broad, a Cavendish laboratory technician

3. Which pub did Watson and Crick rush into on 28 February 1953 to announce their DNA structure?

1. The Bun Shop
2. The Eagle
3. Finch's

4. With whom did Watson and Crick collect their Nobel Prize in 1962?

1. John Kendrew
2. Max Perutz
3. Maurice Wilkins

5. Why did Jim Watson miss the live wireless coverage of HM Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953?

1. he was at a French lesson
2. he was flying to the USA
3. he was playing tennis

6. What was Antony Barrington-Brown paid for his photos of Watson and Crick taken in May 1953?

1. half a crown (25 pence)
2. ten shillings (50 pence)
3. half a guinea (52.5 pence)

7. Why did Watson's mother try to prevent him from going to Cambridge in 1951?

1. he'd forgotten to take clean socks
2. she thought he should be "taught a lesson"
3. she thought the buildings would be draughty

8. What was the proposed title for James Watson's personal memoir that was eventually published as 'The Double Helix'?

1. The Base Pair
2. Honest Jim
3. The Loose Screw

9. Which of the following people has the most published biographies?

1. Francis Crick
2. Rosalind Franklin
3. Maurice Wilkins

10. Where was DNA discovered?

1. England
2. Germany
3. Switzerland

11. Who typed out Watson and Crick's 1953 letter to Nature in which they suggested a structure for DNA?

1. Francis Crick
2. The departmental secretary at the Cavendish Laboratory
3. Elizabeth Watson (Jim Watson's sister)

12. What is special about 19-20 Portugal Place, Cambridge ('The Golden Helix', the Cricks' former home)?

1. it has a single helix on the wall outside
2. it has a double helix on the wall outside
3. it has two double helices on the wall outside

13. What was notable about Rosalind Franklin's Uncle Hugh?

1. he was also a scientist
2. he was the first British High Commissioner to Palestine
3. he attacked Winston Churchill, who opposed votes for women, with a dogwhip

14. What organism did the DNA samples used by Rosalind Franklin come from?

1. Escherichia coli
2. Calf thymus
3. Salmon sperm

15. Linus Pauling proposed an incorrect triple helical structure for DNA in 1953. Whose data did he largely base this structure on?

1. Erwin Chargaff's (Columbia University, New York)
2. Bill Astbury's (University of Leeds)
3. Maurice Wilkins's (King's College, London)

16. Why did Linus Pauling not attend a Royal Society meeting on DNA in 1952?

1. the US State Department suspected that he was a communist and had withdrawn his passport
2. he had not been invited to it
3. he had a very bad cold, having failed to take his customary high doses of vitamin C

17. Which of the following is NOT a genuine nickname used by their colleagues?

1. Uncle Maurice (Maurice Wilkins)
2. The Geneman (Francis Crick)
3. The Gardener (Lawrence Bragg)

18. How was the structure of the double helix first announced to the scientific community in 1953?

1. at a meeting in Belgium
2. in a letter to the journal Nature
3. at the summer meeting of the Royal Society

19. What did Rosalind Franklin ask for for her 29th birthday in 1949?

1. a sewing machine
2. a pair of hiking boots
3. a subscription to a scientific journal

20. Which of the following people is NOT left-handed?

1. Jim Watson
2. Linus Pauling
3. Francis Crick

Read the answers here

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