Final answer:
James Watson and Francis Crick are credited with the discovery of DNA's double helix structure, largely based on the critical work of Rosalind Franklin and Erwin Chargaff. The Nobel Prize was awarded to Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins, posthumously excluding Franklin.
Step-by-step explanation:
The discovery of the double helix structure of DNA is accredited to James Watson and Francis Crick, who proposed that DNA consists of two polynucleotide chains twisted into a spiral staircase-like shape. However, this discovery would not have been possible without the pivotal contributions of other scientists, particularly Rosalind Franklin's expertise in X-ray diffraction methods which provided clear images showing the helical structure of DNA.
Furthermore, Erwin Chargaff's finding that adenine equals thymine and guanine equals cytosine in DNA, known as Chargaff's rules, also played a significant role in understanding DNA's structure. In 1962, Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work, although Rosalind Franklin's critical contributions were not formally recognized with a Nobel Prize as she had already passed away by then.