Wilkins and a graduate student , Raymond Gosling , got the first X-ray diffraction photos of DNA in 1950 . Using a carefully bundled group of these DNA threads and keeping them hydrated , Wilkins and a graduate student Raymond Gosling obtained x-ray photographs of DNA that showed that the long , thin DNA molecule in the sample from Signer had a regular , crystal-like structure in these threads . This initial x-ray diffraction work at Kings College was done in May or June 1950 .