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. |
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Page 182
Generally, it was late in the evening after I got back to my rooms that I tried to
puzzle out the mystery of the bases. Their formulas were written out in J. N.
Davidson's little book The Biochemistry of Nucleic Acids, a copy of which I kept in
Clare.
Generally, it was late in the evening after I got back to my rooms that I tried to
puzzle out the mystery of the bases. Their formulas were written out in J. N.
Davidson's little book The Biochemistry of Nucleic Acids, a copy of which I kept in
Clare.
Page 194
base arrangement would fall out. Fortunately, when we ... This was much too long
even for me to remain in limbo, so I spent the rest of the afternoon cutting
accurate representations of the bases out of stiff cardboard. But by the time they
were ...
base arrangement would fall out. Fortunately, when we ... This was much too long
even for me to remain in limbo, so I spent the rest of the afternoon cutting
accurate representations of the bases out of stiff cardboard. But by the time they
were ...
Page 219
Francis guessed that the more compact A form was achieved by tilting the base
pairs, thereby decreasing the translational distance of a base pair along the fiber
axis to about 2.6 A. He thus set about building a model with tilted bases. Though
...
Francis guessed that the more compact A form was achieved by tilting the base
pairs, thereby decreasing the translational distance of a base pair along the fiber
axis to about 2.6 A. He thus set about building a model with tilted bases. Though
...
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THE DOUBLE HELIX: A Personal Account Of The Discovery Of The Structure Of Dna
User Review - KirkusEven without understanding any of the scientific data processed here, the general reader will find it hard to remain immune to this account of how J.D. Watson, along with another bright, volatile ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - quantum_flapdoodle - LibraryThingJames Watson's love letter to himself, as he explains to us exactly how he single-handedly solved the structure of DNA, with the insignificant help of a cast of baboons, clowns, and women. Watson's ... Read full review
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Common terms and phrases
acid answer argument arranged arrival asked atoms backbone base pairs bases became began biology bonds Bragg building Cambridge Cavendish chemical chemistry coiled coils College completely conversation Crick crystallographic Delbrück double helix English equal evidence existed experiments face fact final Francis friends gave genes genetic give given groups guanine hand held helical helix hope hydrogen idea immediately important interest John join King's knew later letter Linus London look lunch matter 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 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 |