Final answer:
Francis Crick and James Watson are credited with discovering the structure of DNA, with contributions from other scientists like Linus Pauling and Maurice Wilkins. Rosalind Franklin's research using X-ray diffraction played a crucial role in their discovery.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the 1950s, Francis Crick and James Watson worked together to determine the structure of DNA at the University of Cambridge, England.
Other scientists like Linus Pauling and Maurice Wilkins were also actively exploring this field. Pauling had discovered the secondary structure of proteins using X-ray crystallography.
In Wilkins' lab, researcher Rosalind Franklin was using X-ray diffraction methods to understand the structure of DNA.
Watson and Crick were able to piece together the puzzle of the DNA molecule on the basis of Franklin's data because Crick had also studied X-ray diffraction.