Process

Paper

Bryce Hill

For this years National History Day theme, Exploration, Encounter, and
Exchange, because I wanted to research a topic pertinent to my interests, I decided
to research the discovery of the double helix, as I am currently interested in the field
of medicine as a career. The discovery of the double helix led to monumental
advances in biology, genetics, and medicine, and I decided this topic would perfectly
fit the theme of this years National History Day theme.
I began my research with the plethora of sources provided by the National
Institutes of Health. I also looked for books online and at my local library district,
where I found several informative items that aided me in my research. From there, I
looked through YouTube to find documentaries and informative videos that would
help me understand the history and functions of DNA. The last stage in my research
involved searching for specific primary source documents and articles on the
Internet. I was able to interview three very accomplished individuals: Shannon
Hackett and Dr. Kevin Feldheim, of the Field Museum in Chicago, and Dr. Phillip
Danielson, of the University of Denver. All three were invaluable in helping me
understand the current state and the potential future of genetic research.
I decided a website would be most effective in presenting the story of the
double helix. This topic involved many pictures of famous figures alongside many
diagrams of functions of DNA. The functions of DNA are very complex and difficult
to picture, so I decided that my project needed to be able to include an ample
amount of pictures for the audience to understand the processes I was describing.
By this factor alone, I decided a website would be the easiest and most effective
format to display the story of the discovery of the double helix. I utilized a

Process Paper

Bryce Hill

considerable amount of pictures in my website, alongside several other formats of

media.
The discovery of the double helix perfectly fits this years National History
Day theme: Exploration, Encounter, and Exchange. The reason this topic stuck out
to me when I was presented this years theme was the processes by which Watson
and Crick gained their knowledge to reveal the double helix. The argument that
Rosalind Franklin deserves just as much credit as Watson and Crick in discovering
the double helix has become a recent topic of debate, as she performed
groundbreaking experiments in x-ray crystallography, which ultimately led Watson
and Crick to their famous discovery. I realized that this very argument involved the
exchange of knowledge among several scientists, and, upon further research, I
realized that Watson and Cricks discovery involved the exchange of knowledge with
many other scientists, including Maurice Wilkins, Linus Pauling, and many others.
While conducting my research, it became apparent that the exploration of the
mystery of heredity led to the need to discover the structure of DNA, which,
furthermore, allowed scientists to encounter new fields of biological study and
applications for genetic science.





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