The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNAThe classic personal account of Watson and Crick’s groundbreaking discovery of the structure of DNA, now with an introduction by Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind. By identifying the structure of DNA, the molecule of life, Francis Crick and James Watson revolutionized biochemistry and won themselves a Nobel Prize. At the time, Watson was only twenty-four, a young scientist hungry to make his mark. His uncompromisingly honest account of the heady days of their thrilling sprint against other world-class researchers to solve one of science’s greatest mysteries gives a dazzlingly clear picture of a world of brilliant scientists with great gifts, very human ambitions, and bitter rivalries. With humility unspoiled by false modesty, Watson relates his and Crick’s desperate efforts to beat Linus Pauling to the Holy Grail of life sciences, the identification of the basic building block of life. Never has a scientist been so truthful in capturing in words the flavor of his work. |
From inside the book
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Page 31
Though I knew nothing about the X - ray diffraction techniques that dominated
structural analysis , I was optimistic that the spoken arguments would be more
comprehensible than the journal articles , which passed over my head .
Though I knew nothing about the X - ray diffraction techniques that dominated
structural analysis , I was optimistic that the spoken arguments would be more
comprehensible than the journal articles , which passed over my head .
Page 50
Particularly important were the exact arguments needed to understand how Linus
Pauling had discovered the a - helix . I soon was ... Equations occasionally crept
into his argument , but in most cases words would have sufficed . The key to ...
Particularly important were the exact arguments needed to understand how Linus
Pauling had discovered the a - helix . I soon was ... Equations occasionally crept
into his argument , but in most cases words would have sufficed . The key to ...
Page 94
Nothing in Francis ' argument justified all this fuss . She became positively
aggressive when we got on the topic of Mg ++ ions that held together the
phosphate groups of our three - chain model . This feature had no appeal at all to
Rosy , who ...
Nothing in Francis ' argument justified all this fuss . She became positively
aggressive when we got on the topic of Mg ++ ions that held together the
phosphate groups of our three - chain model . This feature had no appeal at all to
Rosy , who ...
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - tgraettinger - LibraryThingWonderful account of the discovery of DNA. Had almost the feel of a detective novel. It's a very easy, quick read. If you can find it, there is a video, "The Race for the Double Helix" aka "Life Story ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - pramodghuge - LibraryThingA very personal account by the author James Watson on how he and his colleague Francis Crick with the help of others beat Linus Pauling to win the coveted Nobel prize for identifying the structure of ... Read full review
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Common terms and phrases
acid adenine answer argument arranged arrival asked atoms backbone base pairs bases became began biological bonds Bragg building Cambridge Cavendish chemical chemistry coiled coils College completely conversation Crick crystallographic cytosine Delbrück double helix English equal evidence existed experiments face fact final Francis gave genes genetic give given groups guanine hand held helical hope hydrogen idea immediately important interest John join King's knew later letter Linus London look lunch Maurice meeting mind molecules months Moreover morning moved Nature needed never obvious Pauling Pauling's Peter position possibility problem protein quickly realized reason remained Rosy saying scientific sense solve soon structure success sugar sure talk tell theory thinking thought tion told walked wanted week X-ray
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA |
| Author | James D. Watson |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | Touchstone, 2001 |
| ISBN | 074321630X, 9780743216302 |
| Length | 256 pages |
| Subjects | › › Science / General Science / History Science / Life Sciences / Genetics & Genomics Science / Reference |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |