History Timeline 1953 James watson and francis Crick discover the double helical structure of DNA( Nature 1972 Paul berg and co-workers create the first recombinant DNA molecule (PNAS 1977 Allan Maxam and Walter Gilbert(pictured) at Harvard University and Frederick Sanger at the U.K. Medical Research Council (MRC) independently develop methods for sequencing DNA(PNA February: PNAS, December)History • Timeline – 1953 James Watson and Francis Crick discover the double helical structure of DNA ( Nature ). – 1972 Paul Berg and co-workers create the first recombinant DNA molecule ( PNAS ). – 1977 Allan Maxam and Walter Gilbert (pictured) at Harvard University and Frederick Sanger at the U.K. Medical Research Council (MRC) independently develop methods for sequencing DNA ( PNAS , February; PNAS , December)