Francis Crick and James Watson “Discovery of the secondary structure of DNA. James Watson: biography, the personal life of a scientist

In the year 62 of the last century, young scientists Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins received the prestigious Nobel Prize - the “life code” of the DNA DNA code appeared to the world: the researchers found that DNA has a double helix structure, like a spiral staircase in huts, and that’s such a seemingly simple structure, as the group only then believed, allows you to divide the cells of the body, save and transmit the accumulated genetic information in time ...

Not so long ago, James Watson visited Moscow ... and among other things, meeting with reporters, personally shared interesting observations from life ...

10 generally simple rules that help the body and intellect not to be wasted on the hand of Christ - to remain useful; and Watson tries not to forget about them:

10 important rules for the life of James Watson

Such a strange statement seems to be:

1. "Do not fight with big boys and with dogs."

the scientist comments:

“... so I wrote in my book“ Avoid Boring ”. And he always tried to adhere to this rule of life: that is, simply do not get involved in those matters where you certainly will not win.

In a word, you should not waste time, effort and nerves in the end to earn disappointment ”...

Personally, for some reason, I immediately recalled the conversations on social networks - on Facebook, for example - where, in principle, “winning” in some kind of interpretation is not realistic. However, it’s very real, to get a lot of disappointments.

2. Do not hesitate to seek help and do not waste time expecting that "they themselves will come and they will give everything."

“You don’t have to sit in the corner, cry and try to prove to the whole world that you can do anything,” says Nobel laureate James Watson. “It’s more important to solve the problem quickly with someone’s help than slowly alone.”

But what about M.A. Bulgakov, we ask ?? “... they will offer it themselves, and they will give everything ...» ?

The answer is simple: ... there is mysticism ... and here science and capitalism are thoroughly relevant knowledge))

But seriously, then this is competition (and maybe even healthy) because it is caused by activity.

However, more often it happens that you ask for help, you don’t want to whine - all one will prefer the choice and grant of a guarantor of a close relative!

But all these times of fraud quickly end: for they do not have logic, constancy, and therefore - the ability to some extent long life in general ...

3. Listen to the advice of only those people who have their own experience on this issue.

“Look for brilliant friends, experts that you have a lot to learn from.

I have always been surrounded by people whom I considered smarter than myself. And I was happy: they can be asked a question and they will answer ”

Clearly following this rule - to get closer to “smart people” - James Watson around 51 of the same last century began working at Cambridge University with a colleague (albeit a physicist) Francis Crick, who is also “ interested in all the important issues» that there is no urine it was necessary to ask someone ... there was no choice but to find a like-minded defendant ...

And already somewhere in the year 53 from the Christmas of the last century - together they published the world's most famous scientific concept about the spiral structure of DNA.

4. No hypocrisy in relations with others.

The scientist believes so: “Either tell the truth, or nothing.

At the same time, you need to know this principle as a measure: publicly criticizing the one who decides your fate is not the right decision. ”

This is a controversial statement ... and I will refrain from commenting: well, unless I envy the professor’s lyrical endurance ...

Watson probably does not write poetry, but in vain (in my lyrical manner) - they would read! The people very much respect the pastoral Odes of all kinds of laureatus: professors, academics, famous housewives (which is generally reasonable, though pointless) ... but very simple! pita, if he happened to be in a square with his scroll ... they would let a tramp go over bumps! they say that a fool without a degree and a mind gets emotional songs, but the heart is scrumming ..! ... And the gusli will ripple on the pavement, and he himself is a genius - he will hardly take away the head and legs ...

And here is the evidence:

5. Read books as much as possible!

“My childhood was in the midst of the Great Depression in the USA, we didn’t have much variety on the table, but books have always been the main luxury in the house, - recalls Watson. - I, like my parents, read a lot. He loved Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev. At school, we read more such books than textbooks, it was a special type of education. And then I became convinced: great books give rise to new ideas! ... which I am reporting to you, - the professor smiled softly.

For example, when I tried to analyze the reasons for my success, I realized that this is knowledge, ”says the author of the most important discovery in the history of mankind. - Of course, ideas are necessary for breakthroughs, but their basis, foundation is precisely knowledge. And in order to gain knowledge, you need to read as much as possible.

Books have been my main interlocutor all my life. And my partner Scream (explanation: co-author of the opening of the spiral ...) also read all the time. Now I spend at least 3-4 hours reading books every day. ”

A third of a working day reading books - however!

I’ll also go to the librarians, because nowhere else will you be so close to bookshelves)

6. Ideas are always more important than facts - remember this when studying and working.

“In most cases, people are interested in WHAT happened, but it’s really important to understand WHY this happened,” emphasizes Nobel laureate James Watson. - To think, analyze, work with facts, and not to remember / describe them - this is the main thing both in study and in work. Remember that an idea is always more important than a fact. ”

7. You can not use the precautionary principle - to limit something to the lead (except in cases of deliberate loss from rule 1), moving forward is impossible without risk.

Interesting reflection:

“Only risk allows us to develop, move forward human civilization! - otherwise Gagarin would not have flown into space, and Columbus would not have crossed the Atlantic and had not discovered America. Try it first, and if you see a real threat, then introduce reasonable restrictions. ” - so the professor believes regarding some of the limitations of research by the authorities.

But the scientist gave such an unexpected answer to the question of how he, constantly immersed in work (still a diver in the depths of the chaos of the sea), traveled around the world ... managed to save his family - they were together with his wife Elizabeth Levy since 68 (and this already serious half a century has passed) and the couple has two sons:

8. Think about how to solve pressing problems, and do not focus on family relationships.

“I’m constantly thinking not about my family, but about the future, about how to solve problems, and my wife writes good books” - the scientist concluded weightily: well, that is precisely why the husband!

9. Strive for healthy longevity.

“I would very much like to live up to 100 years and more, because it is very interesting what will happen in science, what other discoveries will be made - but I, of course, do not want to be sick and weak.”

professor Watson is now engaged in developments for the treatment of neurodegenerative and oncological diseases, and his colleagues from around the world are working on technologies to slow down the aging of the mortal human body in order to thoroughly prevent severe age-related diseases.

James Dewey Watson (born James Dewey Watson, born April 6, 1928, Chicago, Illinois) is an American biologist. 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine - together with Francis Crick and Maurice H.F. Wilkins for discovering the structure of a DNA molecule.

From childhood, thanks to his father, James was fascinated by observations of the life of birds. At the age of 12, Watson participated in the popular Quiz Kids radio quiz for intelligent young people. Thanks to the liberal policies of University of Chicago President Robert Hutchins, he entered university at the age of 15. After reading Erwin Schrödinger's book “What is life from the point of view of physics?”, Watson changed his professional interests from studying ornithology to studying genetics. In 1947, he received a bachelor's degree in zoology from the University of Chicago.
In 1951 he entered the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge, where he studied the structure of proteins. There he met the physicist Francis Crick, who was interested in biology.

In 1952, Watson and Crick began working on modeling the structure of DNA. Using the Chargeff Rules and roentgenograms, Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins built a two-spiral model. The results were published on May 30, 1953 in the journal Nature. For 25 years, he led the Cold Spring Harbor Research Institute, where he conducted research on cancer genetics. From 1989 to 1992, he was the organizer and leader of the Human Genome project for decoding the sequence of human DNA, at the same time he led the secret project Faust.
In 2007, he spoke out in favor of the fact that representatives of different races have different intellectual abilities, which is due to genetics. In connection with the violation of political correctness, they demanded a public apology from him, and in October 2007 Watson officially resigned as head of the laboratory where he worked. However, he continues to lead research in the same laboratory.

According to the Independent, a study of the DNA of James Watson himself revealed a high concentration of African and, to a lesser extent, Asian genes. It was later suggested that the analysis of the genome contained significant errors.
He is currently working on a search for genes for mental illness.

Biology work

Romanova Anastasia

Francis Creek

James watson

"Discovery of the secondary structure of DNA"

The beginning of this story can be taken as a joke. "And we just discovered the secret of life!" - said one of two men who entered the Cambridge Eagle Pub exactly 57 years ago - on February 28, 1953. And these people, who worked in a laboratory nearby, did not exaggerate at all. One of them was called Francis Crick, and the other was James Watson.

Biography:

Francis Creek

During the war years, Creek was engaged in the creation of mines in the research laboratory of the British Navy. For two years after the end of the war, he continued to work in this ministry, and it was then that he read Erwin Schrödinger's famous book What Is Life? Physical Aspects of a Living Cell ”, published in 1944. In the book, Schrödinger asks the question: “How can the spatio-temporal events occurring in a living organism be explained from the standpoint of physics and chemistry?”
The ideas presented in the book influenced Crick so much that he, intending to study particle physics, switched to biology. With the support of Archibald W. Will Creek, he received a scholarship from the Medical Research Council and in 1947 began working at the Strangeway Laboratory in Cambridge. Here he studied biology, organic chemistry, and X-ray diffraction methods used to determine the spatial structure of molecules.

James DeVey Watson

Born April 6, 1928 in Chicago (Illinois) in the family of James D. Watson, a businessman, and Gene (Mitchell) Watson and was their only child.

In Chicago, he received primary and secondary education. It soon became apparent that James was an unusually gifted child, and he was invited on the radio to participate in the Quiz for Kids program. After only two years of high school, Watson received a scholarship in 1943 to study at the experimental four-year college at the University of Chicago, where he showed interest in studying ornithology. After becoming a bachelor of science at the University of Chicago in 1947, he continued his education at Bloomington Indiana University.
By this time, Watson became interested in genetics and began training in Indiana under the guidance of specialist in this field Herman J. Meller and bacteriologist Salvador Luria. Watson wrote a dissertation on the influence of X-rays on the reproduction of bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) and received in 1950 a Ph.D. A subsidy from the National Research Society allowed him to continue research on bacteriophages at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. There he studied the biochemical properties of bacteriophage DNA. However, as he later recalled, experiments with phage began to weigh him down; he wanted to know more about the true structure of DNA molecules that genetics so enthusiastically talked about.

In October 1951 years, the scientist went to the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge to study the spatial structure of proteins together with John C. Kendrew. There he met Francis Crick, (a physicist who was interested in biology), who was writing his doctoral dissertation at that time.
Subsequently, they established close creative contacts. “It was intellectual love at first sight,” says one science historian. Despite the commonality of interests, views on life and style of thinking, Watson and Crick mercilessly, albeit politely, criticized each other. Their roles in this intellectual duo were different. “Francis was the brain, and I was the feeling,” Watson says.

Starting in 1952, based on the early studies of Charguff, Wilkins, and Franklin, Crick and Watson decided to try to determine the chemical structure of DNA.

By the fifties, it was known that DNA was a large molecule consisting of nucleotides connected together. Scientists also knew that it was DNA that was responsible for the storage and transmission of genetic information by inheritance. The spatial structure of this molecule and the mechanisms by which DNA is inherited from cell to cell and from organism to organism remained unknown.

IN 1948 Linus Pauling discovered the spatial structure of other macromolecules - proteins. Beding jaded to bed, Pauling folded paper for several hours, with which he tried to simulate the configuration of a protein molecule, and created a model of the structure called the alpha-helix.

According to Watson, after this discovery, a hypothesis about the helical structure of DNA was popular in their laboratory. Watson and Crick collaborated with leading experts in X-ray diffraction analysis, and Crick was able to almost unmistakably detect signs of a spiral in images obtained in this way.

Pauling also believed that DNA was a spiral, moreover, consisting of three strands. However, he could not explain the nature of such a structure, nor the mechanisms of DNA self-doubling for transmission to daughter cells.

The discovery of the double-stranded structure occurred after Maurice Wilkins secretly showed Watson and Crick an x-ray of a DNA molecule made by his employee Rosalind Franklin. In this picture, they clearly recognized the signs of the spiral and headed to the laboratory to test everything on a three-dimensional model.

In the laboratory, it turned out that the workshop hadn’t supplied the metal plates necessary for the stereo model, and Watson cut four types of prototypes of nucleotides from cardboard — guanine (G), cytosine (C), thymine (T) and adenine (A) —and began to lay them on the table . And then he discovered that adenine combines with thymine, and guanine with cytosine according to the "key-lock" principle. It is in this way that the two strands of the DNA helix are joined together, that is, opposite to thymine from one strand there will always be adenine from the other, and nothing else.

Over the next eight months, Watson and Crick summarized the results with those already available, reporting the DNA structure in February. 1953 of the year.

A month later, they created a three-dimensional model of a DNA molecule made of balls, pieces of cardboard and wire.
According to the Crick-Watson model, DNA represents a double helix, consisting of two deoxyribose phosphate chains connected by base pairs similar to the steps of a ladder. Through hydrogen bonds, adenine combines with thymine, and guanine with cytosine.

You can swap:

a) members of a given pair;

b) any pair to another pair, and this will not lead to structural disruption, although it will decisively affect its biological activity.

The DNA structure proposed by Watson and Crick perfectly met the main criterion, the fulfillment of which was necessary for the molecule, which claims to be the repository of hereditary information. “The skeleton of our model is highly ordered, and the sequence of base pairs is the only property that can ensure the transfer of genetic information,” they wrote.
“Our structure,” wrote Watson and Crick, “consists, therefore, of two chains, each of which is complementary to the other.”

Watson wrote about the discovery to his boss Delbrück, and he wrote to Niels Bohr: “Stunning things happen in biology. I think Jim Watson made a discovery comparable to what Rutherford made in 1911. " It is worth recalling that in 1911, Rutherford discovered the atomic nucleus.

Such an arrangement made it possible to explain the mechanisms of DNA copying: two strands of a helix diverge, and an exact copy of its former "partner" in a helix is \u200b\u200bextended to each of them from nucleotides. On the same principle as with the negative in the photo they print positive.

Although Rosalind Franklin did not support the hypothesis of the spiral structure of DNA, it was her images that played a decisive role in the discovery of Watson and Crick.

Later, the model of DNA structure proposed by Watson and Crick was proved. And in 1962 their work was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for discoveries in the field of the molecular structure of nucleic acids and for determining their role in the transmission of information in living matter." Among the laureates there was no Rosalinda Franklin who had died by that time (from cancer in 1958), since the prize was not awarded posthumously.

one of the Karolinska Institute said at the award ceremony: "The discovery of the spatial molecular structure of DNA is extremely important, because it outlines the possibilities for understanding the smallest details of the general and individual characteristics of all life." Engström noted that “deciphering the double helical structure of deoxyribonucleic acid with a specific pairing of nitrogenous bases opens up fantastic possibilities for unraveling the details of the control and transmission of genetic information.”

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James Watson is a pioneer in molecular biology, who, along with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, is considered the discoverer of the DNA double helix. In 1962, for their work, they became laureates of the Nobel Prize in medicine.

James Watson: biography

Born in Chicago, USA, April 6, 1928. He studied at the Horace Mann School, and then at South Shore High School. At the age of 15, he entered the University of Chicago under an experimental scholarship program for gifted children. Interest in bird life led James Watson to study biology, and in 1947 he was awarded a bachelor of science degree in zoology. After reading Erwin Schrödinger's landmark book, What is Life ?, he switched to genetics.

Denied at the California Institute of Technology and Harvard, James Watson won a scholarship for graduate school at Indiana University. In 1950, he was awarded a doctorate in zoology for his work on the effect of x-ray radiation on the propagation of bacteriophage viruses. From Indiana, Watson moved to Copenhagen and continued to study viruses as an employee of the National Research Council.

Unravel the DNA!

After visiting the New York lab at Cold Spring Harbor, where he reviewed the research results of Hershey and Chase, Watson became convinced that DNA was the molecule responsible for transmitting genetic information. He became interested in the idea that if you understand its structure, you can establish how the data is transmitted between cells. Virus research no longer interested him as much as this new direction.

In the spring of 1951, at a conference in Naples, he met Maurice Wilkins. The latter demonstrated the results of the first attempts to use X-ray diffraction to record a DNA molecule. Watson, thrilled by Wilkins' data, arrived in the UK in the fall. He got a job at the Cavendish Laboratory, where he began to collaborate with Francis Crick.

First attempts

In an attempt to unravel the molecular structure of DNA, James Watson and Francis Crick decided to use a model-based approach. Both were convinced that unraveling its structure would play a key role in understanding the transfer of genetic information from parent to daughter cells. Biologists realized that the discovery of the structure of DNA would be a major scientific breakthrough. At the same time, they were aware of the existence of competitors among other scientists, such as Linus Pauling.

Scream and James Watson DNA were modeled with great difficulty. None of them had a chemical education, so they used standard chemistry textbooks to cut cardboard configurations of chemical bonds. The invited graduate student noted that, according to new data not available in the books, some of his cardboard chemical bonds were used in the opposite direction. Around the same time, Watson attended a lecture by Rosalind Franklin at nearby Royal College. Apparently, he did not listen very carefully.

Unforgivable mistake

As a result of the mistake, the first attempt by scientists to build a DNA model failed. James Watson and Francis Crick built a triple helix with nitrogen bases on the outside of the structure. When they presented the model to colleagues, Rosalind Franklin criticized her harshly. The results of her research clearly proved the existence of two forms of DNA. The wetter of them corresponded to the one that Watson and Crick were trying to build, but they created a DNA model without the water present in it. Franklin noted that if her work were correctly interpreted, then the base of nitrogen would be located inside the molecule. Feeling awkward at such a public failure, the director of the Cavendish Laboratory recommended that researchers abandon their approach. Scientists officially took up other areas, but privately continued to think about the DNA problem.

Peep discovery

Wilkins, who worked at King's College with Franklin, was in personal conflict with her. Rosalind was so unhappy that she decided to move her research to another place. It's unclear how, but Wilkins got at his disposal one of her best x-rays of a DNA molecule. Perhaps she even gave it to herself when she cleaned her office. But it is certain that he took the image out of the laboratory without Franklin’s permission and showed it to his friend Watson in Cavendish. Subsequently, in his book “Double Helix”, he wrote that the moment he saw the picture, his jaw dropped and his pulse increased. Everything was incredibly simpler than the previously obtained A-form. In addition, the black cross of the reflections that dominated the photo could arise only from a spiral structure.

Nobel Prize Laureate

Biologists used the new data to create a double-stranded model of a helix with nitrogen bases in the pairs AT and C-G in the center. This pairing immediately prompted Crick that one side of the molecule could serve as a template for the exact repetition of DNA sequences to transmit genetic information during cell division. This second, successful model was presented in February 1951. In April 1953, they published their findings in the journal Nature. The article caused a sensation. Watson and Crick found that DNA is in the form of a double helix, or "spiral staircase." Two chains in it were disconnected, like “lightning,” and reproduced the missing parts. Thus, each molecule of deoxyribonucleic acid is able to create two identical copies.

The abbreviation DNA and the elegant double helix model have become known worldwide. Watson and Creek also became famous. Their discovery revolutionized the study of biology and genetics, which made possible the genetic engineering methods used in modern biotechnology.

An article in Nature led to the award of the Nobel Prize to them and Wilkins in 1962. The rules of the Swedish Academy allow awarding of no more than three scientists. Rosalind Franklin died of ovarian cancer in 1958. Wilkins mentioned her in passing.

In the year of receiving the Nobel Prize, Watson married Elizabeth Lewis. They had two sons: Rufus and Duncan.

Continuation of work

James Watson continued to work with many other scientists throughout the 1950s. His genius was the ability to coordinate the work of different people and combine their results for new conclusions. In 1952, he used a rotating X-ray anode to demonstrate the spiral structure of the tobacco mosaic virus. From 1953 to 1955 Watson collaborated with scientists from the California Institute of Technology to model the structure of RNA. From 1955 to 1956 he again worked with Crick to uncover the principles of the structure of viruses. In 1956 he moved to Harvard, where he studied RNA and protein synthesis.

Scandalous chronicle

In 1968, a scandalous book about DNA was published, authored by James Watson. The Double Helix was full of derogatory comments and vindictive descriptions of many of the people who participated in the discovery, especially Rosalind Franklin. Because of this, Harvard Press refused to print the book. Nevertheless, the work was published and was a great success. In a later version, Watson apologized for his interpretation of Franklin, saying that he did not know about the pressure that she faced in the 1950s as a female researcher. He received the greatest profit from the publication of two textbooks - “Molecular Biology of the Gene” (1965) and “Molecular Biology of the Cell and Recombinant DNA” (updated edition of 2002), which are still being published. In 2007, he published an autobiography, “Avoid Boring People. The lessons of life in science. "

James Watson: Contribution to Science

In 1968, he became director of the laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor. At that time, the institute was experiencing financial difficulties, but Watson was very successful in finding donors. The institution headed by him has become world leaders in the level of work in the field of molecular biology. Its employees discovered the nature of cancer and first discovered its genes. More than 4,000 scientists from all over the world come to Cold Spring Harbor every year - so deeply influenced by the Institute of International Genetic Research.

In 1990, Watson was appointed project manager for the Human Genome Project at the National Institute of Health. He used his ability to raise funds to run this project until 1992. He quit due to a conflict over patenting genetic information. James Watson believed that this would only interfere with the research of scientists working on the project.

Controversial statements

His stay at Cold Harbor ended abruptly. On October 14, 2007, on his way to a conference in London, he was asked about world events. James Watson, a world-famous scientist, replied that he was overshadowed by the prospects of Africa. According to him, all modern social policy is based on the fact that the intellect of its residents is the same as the rest, but the test results suggest that this is not so. He continued his thought with the idea that progress in Africa was hampered by poor genetic material. A public protest against this statement forced Cold Spring Harbor to request his resignation. The scientist later apologized and refused his statements, saying that "there is no scientific basis for this." In his farewell speech, he expressed his vision that "the final victory (over cancer and mental illness) is within our reach."

Despite these setbacks, geneticist James Watson continues to make controversial statements today. In September 2013, at the Allen Institute in Seattle, at a meeting devoted to the study of the brain, he again made a controversial statement about his belief that the increase in diagnosed hereditary diseases could be due to the later birth of children. “The older you get, the more likely you are to have defective genes,” said Watson, also expressing the idea that genetic material should be collected from people no older than 15 years old for further conception through in vitro fertilization. In his opinion, this would reduce the chances that the life of parents would be ruined by the birth of a child with physical or mental disorders.

James Dewey Watson (April 6, 1928, Chicago, Illinois) - American biologist. Winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine - together with Francis Crick and Maurice H.F. Wilkins for discovering the structure of a DNA molecule.

In 1951 he entered the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge, where he studied the structure of proteins. There he met the physicist Francis Crick, who was interested in biology.

In 1952, Watson and Crick began working on modeling the structure of DNA. Using the Chargaff Rules and roentgenograms, Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins built a two-spiral model.

For 25 years, he led the Cold Spring Harbor Research Institute, where he conducted research on cancer genetics.

From 1989 to 1992, he was the organizer and leader of the Human Genome project for decoding the sequence of human DNA, at the same time he led the secret project Faust

In 2007, he spoke out in favor of the fact that representatives of different races have different intellectual abilities, which is due to genetics. In connection with the violation of political correctness, they demanded a public apology from him, and in October 2007 Watson officially resigned as head of the laboratory where he worked. However, he continues to lead research in the same laboratory.

Books (3)

Avoid tediousness. The lessons of life lived in science

The famous biologist James Watson became famous for the fact that in 1953 he discovered (along with Francis Crick) the structure of DNA, for which he received the Nobel Prize. Watson later became the first director of the National Center for Human Genome Research (USA) and led the famous Human Genome project.

In his autobiographical book, Avoid Boring, Watson writes about his famous discovery, how American science functions, and the lessons he could learn from his own life experiences, as well as from observing other people. It is this last circumstance that makes Watson's book not only fascinating, but also very useful:

“Avoid tediousness” is both a comprehensive memoir of the great scientist and a kind of manual for achieving success in science. Talking about his life path, the author gives the reader practical and practical advice on how to make a successful career in science and, perhaps, one day to make an outstanding discovery for himself.

Molecular biology of the gene

The book belongs to the pen of Nobel laureate J. Watson, occupies a special place in the literature on molecular biology.

She is an excellent guide in this new, booming field of biology and summarizes the latest data. The principles of the chromosomal theory of heredity, the interaction of biologically active molecules, the structure and function of membranes, the role of various metabolic regulators, the viral theory of cancer, issues and tasks of genetic engineering are considered.

The book is written exclusively clearly, logically and read with great interest.

Double helix

The author of the book is a prominent American scientist James D. Watson. Everyone who followed the latest achievements of world biology must have heard his name next to the names of the English Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins. These three scientists, who received the Nobel Prize in 1962, made one of the most significant discoveries in the biology of the 20th century: they established the structure of a DNA molecule - the genetic material of a cell that stores information about the hereditary traits of the body.

The Double Helix, an autobiographical novel in which Watson details how he and his co-authors arrived at this discovery, introduces the reader to the “kitchen” of great science. The laid-back manner of presentation, vivid characteristics of the characters - famous American and European scholars, figurative literary language will attract the attention of not only scientists, but also fans of popular science literature.