Francis Crick

British molecular biologist who co-discovered the double helix structure of DNA with James Watson (1953), later formulated the Central Dogma of molecular biology (DNA → RNA → protein), and spent his later career studying the neural basis of consciousness at the Salk Institute.

Formulated the central organizing principle of molecular biology — the Central Dogma (information flows from DNA to RNA to protein, never in reverse) gave molecular biology its theoretical backbone; combined with the double helix structure, it defined how life stores and uses information.