July 29, 2004

Francis Crick dead at 88.

Credited with the discovery of the structure of DNA, along with James Watson.

posted by polychrome 20 years ago
  • A truly great man. Not just the discovery, but the further work he did on it on DNA and RNA mechanisms - and then his subsequent work on neuroscience. The Astonishing Hypothesis is a magnificent book which I'd recommend to anyone. Also, from everything I've read, a fine human being in so many other respects.
  • I assume someone saved a sample? In all seriousness, a fascinating man and visionary scientist. R.I.P., Francis.
  • Watson and Crick Two amazing men. It's hard to imagine the world without that helix. Francis Crick was one of the greats. I doubt this post will garner as many comments as RR's, but Crick certainly had a more positive, more lasting, and more powerful impact on humanity than RR ever had. RIP
  • I've never thought highly of Watson on a personal level, but I always respected Crick as he was, from all reports, a great man. I thought even more highly of him when I heard that his car's personalized license plate spelled out "AGCT". His recent work was extraordinary if just for his willingness to move into new areas of research. RIP
  • Aw Crickey
  • Maybe spare a thought for Rosalind Franklin while we're here.
  • Thanks, Wolof. I was going to pull up a link to Franklin earlier but got sidetracked.
  • I thought about it, but I'm saving those links for when Watson snuffs it. He seems to be most at fault in that whole mess.
  • Never heard anything against Crick. Watson was/is an Ass. But the person to blame in the whole sorrid treatment of Franklin would be her partner, or rather, the man who refused to be her partner, Maurice Wilkins. She apparently arrived in London after working in France, and expected that she had been hired to collaborate scientifically with Wilkins. He ignored her because he was a woman - she was just to be a technician. That's not to say she was the easiest person in the world to get one with - likely she was not. But she deserved to be respected by her peers. She had at one point thought about a helix structure (triple, I think), but unlike Watson and Crick, she had no one to bounce her ideas off. It's not surprising that she did not come up with the final pattern in that kind of intellectual isolation. Watson's immoral acts were not citing her work (this is like a crime in science) and in turning her into a publically derided figure after her death, perhaps to justify his egregious actions. Crick would share in the first, but I don't know that he ever participated in the second.
  • As I said, I was saving this, but given how the thread is going it might as well get posted. It's an interesting take on the subject; I disagree with it, I think the Rosalind Franklin treatment is a big deal, but it's instructive to think about exactly why it's significant.