Final answer:
James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of DNA's double helix structure, with crucial contributions from Rosalind Franklin.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the year 1962, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins for their discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. This groundbreaking work was based heavily on the X-ray diffraction data produced by Rosalind Franklin, whose contribution was crucial even though she did not share in the Nobel Prize because Nobel prizes are not awarded posthumously. Despite Franklin's absence from the prize, the collaboration of these scientists led to one of the most significant discoveries in the field of biology.
Watson and Crick utilized Chargaff's rules and the X-ray diffraction images from Franklin and Wilkins to build their model of DNA. The recognition awarded to Watson, Crick, and Wilkins immortalized their names in the annals of science for piecing together the puzzle of DNA's double helix structure, which resembles a spiral staircase with paired bases connecting the two strands on the interior and the sugar and phosphate groups on the exterior. Rosalind Franklin's expert X-ray diffraction work showed the overall shape of the DNA double helix, but tragically she passed away before the Nobel was awarded.