James Watson and Francis Crick are credited with discovering the structure of DNA in 1953. Their groundbreaking work revealed that DNA has a double helix structure, which is critical for understanding how genetic information is stored and transmitted. This discovery was built upon the foundational research of Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins, who provided essential X-ray diffraction images of DNA. The identification of the double helix has had profound implications in genetics, biotechnology, and medicine, shaping our understanding of heredity and evolution.