Francis Crick (1916-2004) was one of Britain's great scientists. He is best known for his work with James Watson which led to the identification of the structure of DNA in 1953, drawing on the work of Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin and others. This discovery proved to be of enormous importance to biomedical research - and to life and health - and earned Crick, Watson and Wilkins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962.