Thought experiment: imagine a time when all of this was yet to be determined! what would that feel like?

Above is a screenshot of a collection of images portraying the different levels of understanding of the DNA structure, minus Rosalind’s groundbreaking X-Ray diffraction image. At left is what a single chromosome looks like unraveled. In the center are electron microscopy images of DNA and at right are computer designed theoretical images of A, B, and Z DNA helices. I include these images to emphasize how much we know now relative to how much Rosalind knew at the outset of her exploration. It is difficult to imagine what it would feel like not to know what the basis for life and differentiation looked like. It would just be that thing in the nucleus that somehow was consistently translated into life. If human life is an incredible/wonderful mystery today, in the sense that it is amazing that life is habitually created and maintained to form intricate while functional structures, how much of a mystery would it have been then? Its an interesting thought experiment to imagine a time when DNA double helix was not part of the public’s vocabulary, when it was just accepted that something in the nucleus worked its magic! In trying to imagine this scenario, it allows me to appreciate how momentous the DNA helix discovery must have been for those involved and the public who benefited from the knowledge.