DNA pioneer Francis Crick's Nobel Prize to be auctioned 10 April 2013 Last updated at 16:22 The Nobel Prize medal given to Francis Crick for the discovery of the double helix shape of DNA is to be auctioned. Professor Crick, who died aged 88 in 2004, helped discover the "secret of life" at Cambridge University in 1953. The medal, expected to fetch between $500,000 (£326,474) and "several million," is one of 10 items of Crick's up for auction on Thursday in New York. Heritage Auctions said it would be the first time a Nobel Prize had been sold at public auction. Crick's family will donate 20% of the profit to researchers at the Francis Crick Institute in London. Stained lab coat Crick, along with James Watson and Maurice Wilkins, was given the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for "discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material." Other items in the sale include the cheque and diploma Crick received as part of the prize and one of his lab coats, which has "various stains on it." The scientist's granddaughter, Kindra Crick, said the medal had been locked away for most of the time since it was awarded. "This marks the 60th anniversary of the historic discovery of the structure of DNA and 50 years have passed since Francis Crick was awarded the Nobel Prize," Ms Crick said. Our hope is that, by having it available for display, it can be an inspiration to the next generation of scientists. Crick was born in 1916 in Weston Favell near Northampton and educated at Northampton Grammar School. The twice-married scientist died in July 2004 in San Diego. Rosalind Franklin also played a key role in the discovery of DNA but died in 1958, before the prize was awarded.