Francis Crick was a British molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist, best known for co-discovering the structure of DNA in 1953 alongside James Watson. Their groundbreaking work revealed the double helix structure of DNA, which is crucial for understanding genetic information and heredity. Crick was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962, along with Watson and Maurice Wilkins, for their contributions to the field of genetics. Throughout his career, he made significant contributions to molecular biology and continued to explore the nature of consciousness and the brain until his passing in 2004.