2 Pounds 2003 - DNA Double Helix
By Coinsanduk | Friday, 4 October 2024
The Royal Mint is launched in 2003 a new £2 coin, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of the Double Helix structure of DNA by Francis Crick and James Watson.
James Dewey Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he co-authored with Francis Crick the academic paper proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule.
The reverse design on the coin features the distinctive double helix structure of the DNA molecule, comprising two strands twisted around each other. On the edge of the coin are inscribed the words DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID. The design, by sculptor John Mills, was selected by the Royal Mint Advisory Committee from several others submitted in competition.
The obverse design is the portrait of Her Majesty the Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley, which has appeared on UK coinage strating in 1998.
A Brilliant Uncirculated DNA £2 coin was also available in an informative presentation folder priced £6.95. Furthermore, the coin was featured in a presentation pack along with all the other circulating coins in the UK for 2003, priced at £13.95. Collector versions in silver and gold and were also available.
DNA is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of all known organisms and many viruses.
Francis Harry Compton Crick (1916-2004) was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. Crick and Watson's paper in Nature in 1953 laid the groundwork for understanding DNA structure and functions.
Sepcifications
- Composition
- Outer: Nickel-Brass (76% copper, 4% nickel, 20% zinc)
- Inner: Cupro-nickel (75% copper, 25% nickel)
- Diameter: 28.4 mm
- Weight: 12 g
- Thickness: 2.5 mm
