Nature: vol 171: 737-738 1953.
"A Structure for deoxyribonucleic acid”
starting with "We wish to suggest a structure for the
salt of deoxyribose nucleic acid (D.N.A.)".
The article ended with the subtle understatement: "It has not
escaped our notice that the specific pairing that we have
postulated immediately suggests a possible copying
mechanism for the genetic material".
A second paper in Nature: vol 171: 964-967, 1953...
"General implications of structure of deoxyribonucleic
acid"... discussed how DNA replicates.
Watson and Crick's paper appeared in Nature on 15 May 1953, just 3 weeks after Stanley Miller's paper on the production of amino acids under primitive Earth conditions.
Their work is recognized with the 1962 Nobel Prize,
shared with Maurice Wilkins. Rosalind Franklin, a major
contributor received little credit at all, and died 4 years earlier.