The Cavendish Laboratory
It was in Cambridge that Francis Crick and James Watson discovered the structure of DNA while working at the Cavendish Laboratory in 1953. In a classroom in the original Cavendish Laboratory, students will learn how Crick and Watson discerned the double-helix structure of DNA – and then we’ll all head over to the Eagle Pub, where the initial announcement of the discovery of “the secret of life” was made.
Interestingly, when the Cavendish Laboratory was founded in 1871, the scientist selected as first director was James Clerk Maxwell, who personally designed many of the features that made this the prototypical university research laboratory. Some of those features are still present, and since our class will be conducted in the James Clerk Maxwell lecture room, we’ll have a chance to examine them first-hand.
Copyright Wittenberg University 2007