Ciro Santilli
OurBigBook.comWatson and Crick's "Nobel Prize paper.
Nature paywall: www.nature.com/articles/171737a0
Starting line:The Eighth Day of Creation explains the "salt" part as that was the usual way to prepare DNA for X-ray crystallography, where something binds with the phosphate groups of DNA
We wish to suggest a structure for the salt of deoxyribose nucleic acid (D.N.A,). This structure has novel features which are of considerable biological interest.
The paper then shoots down other previously devised helical structures, notably some containing 3 strands or phosphate on the inside.
Then they briefly describe the structure.
DNA double helix illustration from "A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid"
. Source. Drawn by Francis Crick's wife Odile Crick.