![[James Watson]のThe Double Helix (English Edition)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/510Go1DTrFL.jpg)
Watson's account of the discovery of the structure of the DNA is both compelling and intriguing. The topic is not one to naturally pique my interest had I not stumbled on an article on small wins by the Harvard Business Review.
The narrative in the book rightfully earned its author and his collaborators - Maurice Wilkins and Francis Crick, the Nobel Prize in Physiology (Medicine) in 1962. I did not read it for its acclaim or the nobility of the work, but for the candid way in which J.D. Watson told his story. I would later find that the book resonates with me deeply and I am still relishing the good find it was.
"My interest in DNA had grown out of a desire, first picked up while a senior in college, to learn what the gene was ... It was my hope that the gene might be solved without my learning any chemistry. This wish partially arose from laziness since, as an undergraduate a the University of Chicago, I... managed to avoid taking any chemistry or physics courses which looked of even medium difficulty... So I was not faced with the prospect of absorbing chemistry until I went to Copenhagen ... Journeying abroad initially appeared the perfect solution to the complete lack of chemical facts in my head...Months after my arrival in Copenhagen, I was asked to propose plans for the following year. This was no simple matter, for I had no plans."
J.D Watson was original, direct, blunt, sincere, and sometimes arrogant. How could a man who had no plans win the Nobel prize? Of course, he had plans, "It was my hope that the gene might be solved without my learning any chemistry." Spurred by a conference presentation by Maurice Wilkins on the crystalline nature of the DNA, Linus Pauling's model of the structure of the protein, and discussions with Francis Crick at Cambridge. In the words of Lawrence Bragg, " he - JDW - has seen the evidence and has good reason to believe that a method of attack which he can envisage, perhaps a new point of view, will lead straight to the solution."
If you are interested in the discovery process, and the ups and downs of doing ground-breaking research amidst stiff competition, then the double helix will be a good read.
The narrative in the book rightfully earned its author and his collaborators - Maurice Wilkins and Francis Crick, the Nobel Prize in Physiology (Medicine) in 1962. I did not read it for its acclaim or the nobility of the work, but for the candid way in which J.D. Watson told his story. I would later find that the book resonates with me deeply and I am still relishing the good find it was.
"My interest in DNA had grown out of a desire, first picked up while a senior in college, to learn what the gene was ... It was my hope that the gene might be solved without my learning any chemistry. This wish partially arose from laziness since, as an undergraduate a the University of Chicago, I... managed to avoid taking any chemistry or physics courses which looked of even medium difficulty... So I was not faced with the prospect of absorbing chemistry until I went to Copenhagen ... Journeying abroad initially appeared the perfect solution to the complete lack of chemical facts in my head...Months after my arrival in Copenhagen, I was asked to propose plans for the following year. This was no simple matter, for I had no plans."
J.D Watson was original, direct, blunt, sincere, and sometimes arrogant. How could a man who had no plans win the Nobel prize? Of course, he had plans, "It was my hope that the gene might be solved without my learning any chemistry." Spurred by a conference presentation by Maurice Wilkins on the crystalline nature of the DNA, Linus Pauling's model of the structure of the protein, and discussions with Francis Crick at Cambridge. In the words of Lawrence Bragg, " he - JDW - has seen the evidence and has good reason to believe that a method of attack which he can envisage, perhaps a new point of view, will lead straight to the solution."
If you are interested in the discovery process, and the ups and downs of doing ground-breaking research amidst stiff competition, then the double helix will be a good read.
