Linus Pauling became the epitome of a graceful loser. He gave Watson and Crick full credit for their discovery, helped them tidy up a question about hydrogen bonding across the chains, and then invited them to present and discuss their discovery at an international protein conference he organized in Pasadena, in September 1953.

It was an historic occasion, a celebration of the great strides made during the previous three years and a starting point for the new field of molecular biology.

Pauling was undaunted by his mistaken structure. He would go on to win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1954 for his entire body of work in structural chemistry, and then become the first person in history to win two unshared Nobels when he became the surprise winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize for Peace.