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Science 11 April 2003:
Vol. 300. no. 5617, pp. 255 - 257
DOI: 10.1126/science.1081133
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Essays on Science and Society

Also see the archival list of the Essays on Science and Society.

PERCEPTIONS IN SCIENCE:
The Making of an Icon

Soraya de Chadarevian

This Essay unravels the history of the iconic image of James Watson, Francis Crick, and the double helix. Taken by freelance photographer Antony Barrington Brown in May 1953 to accompany a report on the double-helix structure in Time magazine, it was returned unused and first appeared in print only 15 years later in Watson's book, The Double Helix. It has since been inextricably linked to the history of the discovery and the way it is portrayed.

The author is in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University, Cambridge, CB2 3RH UK. E-mail: sd10016{at}hermes.cam.ac.uk

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)