[en] In the modern history of Science, few breakthroughs have caused an impact comparative to the Double Helix, the three-dimensional structure of DNA proposed by Watson &amp; Crick in 1953, an event whose 50th anniversary was widely celebrated in the non-specialist media, three years ago. Although the discovery had little transcendence at the time, it has unquestionably been of great importance ever since. The Double Helix has underlined the true biological value of nucleic acids compared with proteins, demonstrating that genes are not amorphous entities but have a specific chemical composition and adopt an ordered spatial folding pattern. Elucidation of this key configuration made it possible to establish a direct relationship between the structure and the function of macromolecules, a relationship which is not so clear in the case of proteins. During these last fifty years much has been written and argued about the circumstances surrounding the discovery and about the behaviour and attitudes of many of the protagonists. Besides Watson &amp; Crick, other scientists, whose contribution has not been adequately recognised, played an important part in solving the Double Helix mystery. This article contains some ethical and scientific reflections which revise some of these essential contributions and throws light on the role played in history by these comparatively &laquo;unknown soldiers&raquo; of science. The Double Helix story is undoubtedly a manifestation of the human side of science and many scientists believe that the available evidence taken as a whole permits an alternative story to be written.

[es] En la desarrollo hist&oacute;rico de la Ciencia moderna, pocos descubrimientos han causado un impacto comparativo a las repercusiones de la Doble H&eacute;lice, la estructura tridimensional del ADN, propuesta por Watson y Crick en 1953. El 50&ordm; aniversario de aquel evento fue ampliamente celebrado hace tres a&ntilde;os, incluso por los medios no especializados en informaci&oacute;n cient&iacute;fica. Si bien, el descubrimiento tuvo inicialmente poca trascendencia, en este medio siglo transcurrido sus repercusiones resultan incuestionables. La Doble H&eacute;lice ha resaltado el verdadero valor biol&oacute;gico de los &aacute;cidos nucleicos frente a la prote&iacute;nas, demostrando que los genes no son entidades amorfas. Por elcontrario, poseen una composici&oacute;n qu&iacute;mica espec&iacute;fica y adoptan un patr&oacute;n ordenado de plegamiento espacial. La elucidaci&oacute;n de esta configuraci&oacute;n esencial permiti&oacute; establecer una relaci&oacute;n directa entre la estructura y la funci&oacute;n de las macromol&eacute;culas biol&oacute;gicas, dicha interconexi&oacute;n no resulta tan obvia en el caso de las prote&iacute;nas. A lo largo de estos cincuenta a&ntilde;os, se ha escrito y debatido extensamente sobre las circunstancias que rodearon aquel hito, as&iacute; como acerca del comportamiento y las actitudes personales de muchos de los protagonistas implicados. Adem&aacute;s de Watson y Crick, otros cient&iacute;ficos, cuya contribuci&oacute;n no ha sido adecuadamente reconocida, desempe&ntilde;aron un papel decisivo en la soluci&oacute;n del misterio de la Doble H&eacute;lice. Este art&iacute;culo contiene algunas reflexiones &eacute;ticas y cient&iacute;ficas que revisan esas contribuciones esenciales y pretende arrojar nueva luz sobre la participaci&oacute;n esencial en la historia de aquellos &laquo;soldados desconocidos&raquo; de la Ciencia. La Doble H&eacute;lice es, indudablemente,una manifestaci&oacute;n del lado humano de la investigaci&oacute;n cient&iacute;fica y muchos investigadores piensan que el conjunto de las evidencias disponibles, permite escribir una historia alternativa de la versi&oacute;n oficial.