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

James Watson: biography

Born in Chicago, USA on April 6, 1928. He attended Horace Mann High School and later South Shore High School. At the age of 15, he entered the University of Chicago on an experimental scholarship program for gifted children. His interest in bird life led James Watson to study biology, and in 1947 he was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Zoology. After reading Erwin Schrödinger's landmark book What Is Life? he switched to genetics.

Rejected by the California Institute of Technology and Harvard, James Watson won a fellowship to go to graduate school at Indiana University. In 1950, he was awarded a doctorate in zoology for his work on the effect of X-rays on the reproduction of bacteriophage viruses. From Indiana, Watson moved to Copenhagen and continued studying viruses as a staff member of the National Research Council.

Unravel DNA!

After visiting the New York laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor, where he got acquainted with the results of the research of Hershey and Chase, Watson came to the conviction that DNA is the molecule that is responsible for the transfer of genetic information. He got carried away with the idea that if you understand its structure, you can establish how data is transferred 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 photograph a DNA molecule. Watson, excited 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-building approach. Both were convinced that solving 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.

Crick and James Watson had a hard time modeling DNA. None of them had a chemistry background, so they used standard chemistry textbooks to cut out cardboard chemical bond configurations. A visiting graduate student noted that, according to new data missing from 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 King's College. Apparently he wasn't listening very carefully.

An unforgivable mistake

As a result of a mistake, the first attempt by scientists to build a model of DNA 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 it harshly. The results of her research clearly proved the existence of two forms of DNA. The wetter of these matched the one Watson and Crick tried to build, but they created a DNA model without the water present in it. Franklin noted that if her work were correctly interpreted, the nitrogen bases would be located inside the molecule. Embarrassed by such a public failure, the director of the Cavendish Laboratory encouraged researchers to abandon their approach. Scientists officially took up other directions, but privately they continued to think about the DNA problem.

Peeped Opening

Wilkins, who had worked at King's College with Franklin, was in personal conflict with her. Rosalind was so unhappy that she made the decision to move her research elsewhere. It is not clear how, but Wilkins received one of her best X-rays of a DNA molecule. Perhaps she even gave it to him herself when she was cleaning 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 the 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 reflections that dominated the photo could only have originated from the spiral structure.

Nobel Prize Laureate

Biologists used new data to create a double-stranded helix model with nitrogenous bases in pairs AT and C-G in the center. This pairing immediately suggested to Crick that one side of the molecule could serve as a template for the exact repetition of DNA sequences for the transmission of 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 established that DNA has the shape of a double helix, or "spiral staircase." Two chains in it were disconnected like a "lightning" and reproduced the missing parts. Thus, each deoxyribonucleic acid molecule is able to create two identical copies.

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

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

In the year he received 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 helical structure of the tobacco mosaic virus. From 1953 to 1955 Watson collaborated with scientists at 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 researched RNA and protein synthesis.

Scandalous chronicle

In 1968, a scandalous book about DNA was published, the author of which was James Watson. The Double Helix was full of derogatory comments and rancorous descriptions from many of the people involved, especially Rosalind Franklin. Because of this, the Harvard Press refused to print the book. Nevertheless, the work was published and was a great success. In a later edition, Watson apologized for his treatment of Franklin, stating that he was unaware of the pressure she faced in the 1950s as a female researcher. He earned the greatest profit from the publication of two textbooks - "Molecular Biology of the Gene" (1965) and "Molecular Biology of Cells and Recombinant DNA" (updated edition of 2002), which are still out of print. In 2007, he published his autobiography Avoid Boring People. Life Lessons in Science ”.

James Watson: Contribution to Science

In 1968 he became director of the Cold Spring Harbor laboratory. The institution was in financial difficulties at the time, but Watson was very successful in finding donors. The institution headed by him has become a world leader in terms of work in the field of molecular biology. Her collaborators discovered the nature of cancer and discovered its genes for the first time. More than 4,000 scientists from all over the world visit Cold Spring Harbor every year - so profoundly the influence of the Institute for International Genetic Research.

In 1990, Watson was named head of the Human Genome Project at the National Institutes of Health. He used his fundraising abilities to lead this project until 1992. He quit due to a conflict over patenting genetic information. James Watson believed that this would only hinder the research of the 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 events in the world. James Watson, a world-renowned scientist, responded that he was overshadowed by the prospects for Africa. According to him, all modern social policy is based on the fact that the intelligence of its inhabitants is the same as that of others, but the test results indicate that this is not so. He continued his thought with the idea that progress in Africa is being hampered by poor genetic material. Public outcry against this statement prompted Cold Spring Harbor to ask for his resignation. The scientist later apologized and retracted his statements, saying that "there is no scientific basis for this." In his farewell speech, he expressed his vision that "the ultimate victory (over cancer and mental illness) is within our reach."

Despite these setbacks, geneticist James Watson continues to make controversial claims 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 an increase in diagnosed hereditary diseases may be associated with later childbirth. “The older you get, the more likely you are to have defective genes,” Watson said, also suggesting that genetic material must be collected from people under 15 for further conception through in vitro fertilization. In his opinion, this would reduce the chances that the parents' life would be ruined by the birth of a child with physical or mental disorders.

James Dewey Watson is an American biochemist. Born April 6, 1928 in Chicago (Illinois). He was the only child of businessman James D. Watson and Jean (Mitchell) Watson. In his hometown, the boy received his primary and secondary education. It soon became apparent that James was an unusually gifted child, and he was invited to the radio to participate in the Kids Quiz program. After only two years in high school, Watson received a scholarship in 1943 to study at an experimental four-year college at the University of Chicago, where he showed interest in the study of ornithology. After graduating from the university in 1947 with a Bachelor of Science degree, he then continued his education at Indiana University Bloomington.

Born in Chicago, Illinois. At the age of 15, he entered the University of Chicago, from which he graduated four years later. In 1950 they received their doctorate from Indiana University for the study of viruses. By this time, Watson had become interested in genetics and began training in Indiana under the guidance of a specialist in this field, G.D. Meller and bacteriologist S. Luria. In 1950, the young scientist received his Ph.D. for his thesis on the effect of X-rays on the reproduction of bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria). A grant 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 a bacteriophage began to weigh on him, he wanted to learn more about the true structure of DNA molecules, about which geneticists talked so enthusiastically. His visit to the Cavendish Laboratory in 1951 led to a collaboration with Francis Crick, which culminated in the discovery of the structure of DNA.

In October 1951, the scientist went to the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University to study the spatial structure of proteins together with D.K. Kendrew. There he met Crick, a physicist who was interested in biology and was writing his doctoral dissertation at the time.

“It was intellectual love at first sight,” says one historian of science. "Their scientific views and interests are the most important problem to solve if you are a biologist." Despite their common interests, outlook on life and style of thinking, Watson and Crick criticized each other mercilessly, albeit politely. Their roles in this intellectual duo were different. “Francis was the brain and I was the feeling,” says Watson.

Beginning in 1952, based on early research by Chargaff, Wilkins, and Franklin, Crick and Watson decided to try to determine the chemical structure of DNA.

Recalling the attitude to DNA of the overwhelming majority of biologists of those days, Watson wrote: “After Avery's experiments, it looked like DNA was the main genetic material. Thus, figuring out the chemical makeup of DNA could be an important step towards understanding how genes are reproduced. But unlike proteins, very little precise chemical information was available about DNA. Only a few chemists have been involved in it, and except for the fact that nucleic acids are very large molecules built from smaller building blocks - nucleotides, nothing was known about their chemistry that a geneticist could grasp. Moreover, organic chemists who worked with DNA were almost never interested in genetics.

American scientists have tried to bring together all the information available so far about DNA, both physicochemical and biological. As V.N. Soifer: “Watson and Crick analyzed the data of X-ray structural analysis of DNA, compared them with the results of chemical studies of the ratio of nucleotides in DNA (Chargaff's rules) and applied to DNA the idea of \u200b\u200bL. Pauling about the possibility of the existence of helical polymers, expressed by him in relation to proteins. As a result, they were able to propose a hypothesis about the structure of DNA, according to which DNA was represented by two polynucleotide strands connected by hydrogen bonds and mutually twisted relative to each other. The hypothesis of Watson and Crick so simply explained most of the mysteries about the functioning of DNA as a genetic matrix that it was literally immediately accepted by geneticists and experimentally proved in a short time.

Based on this, Watson and Crick proposed the following DNA model:

1. Two chains in the DNA structure are twisted around one another and form a right-handed spiral.

2. Each chain is composed of regularly repeating phosphoric acid and deoxyribose sugar residues. Nitrogen bases are attached to the sugar residues (one for each sugar residue).

3. The chains are fixed relative to each other by hydrogen bonds connecting pairwise nitrogenous bases. As a result, it turns out that phosphorus and carbohydrate residues are located on the outer side of the spiral, and the bases are enclosed inside it. The bases are perpendicular to the axis of the chains.

4. There is a selection rule for pairing bases. A purine base can combine with a pyrimidine base, and, moreover, thymine can combine only with adenine, and guanine with cytosine ...

5. You can swap: a) the participants of this pair; b) any pair to another pair, and this will not lead to a violation of the structure, although it will decisively affect its biological activity.

"Our structure," wrote Watson and Crick, "thus consists of two chains, each of which is complementary to the other."

In February 1953, Crick and Watson reported on the structure of DNA. A month later, they created a 3D model of a DNA molecule made from balls, pieces of cardboard and wire.

Watson wrote about the discovery to his boss Delbrück, and he to Niels Bohr: “Amazing 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.

The model allowed other researchers to clearly visualize DNA replication. The two chains of the molecule are separated at the places of hydrogen bonds, like opening a zipper, after which a new one is synthesized on each half of the old DNA molecule. The base sequence acts as a template, or pattern, for a new molecule.

The structure of DNA, proposed by Watson and Crick, perfectly satisfied the main criterion, the fulfillment of which was necessary for a molecule that claims to be a repository of hereditary information. “The backbone 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.

Crick and Watson completed the creation of a DNA model in 1953, and nine years later, together with Wilkins, they received the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and their importance for the transmission of information in living systems." Wilkins, - his experiments with X-ray diffraction helped to establish the double-stranded structure of DNA. Rosalind Franklin (1920–58), whose contribution to the discovery of the structure of DNA, according to many, was very significant, was not awarded the Nobel Prize, since she did not live up to this time.

Summarizing the data on the physical and chemical properties of DNA and analyzing the results of M. Wilkins and R. Franklin on the scattering of X-rays on DNA crystals, J. Watson and F. Crick in 1953 built a model of the three-dimensional structure of this molecule. The principle of complementarity of chains in a double-stranded molecule, proposed by them, was of paramount importance. J. Watson owns the hypothesis of a semi-conservative DNA replication mechanism. In 1958-1959. J. Watson and A. Tissier carried out studies of bacterial ribosomes, which have become classical. Also known are the work of a scientist to study the structure of viruses. In 1989-1992. J. Watson headed the international scientific program "Human Genome".

Watson and Crick discovered the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), a substance that contains all hereditary information.

By the fifties, it was known that DNA is a large molecule that consists of thousands of small molecules of four different types - nucleotides - linked together in a line. Scientists also knew that it is DNA that is responsible for storing and inheriting genetic information, similar to a text written in an alphabet of four letters. 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 and created a model of the structure called the "alpha helix".

Pauling also believed that DNA is a spiral, moreover, consisting of three strands. However, he could not explain either the nature of such a structure, or the mechanisms of DNA self-doubling for transmission to daughter cells.

The discovery of the double-stranded structure came after Maurice Wilkins secretly showed Watson and Crick an X-ray of a DNA molecule taken by his collaborator Rosalind Franklin. In this picture, they clearly recognized the signs of a spiral and went to the laboratory to check everything on the 3D model.

In the laboratory, it turned out that the workshop did not supply the metal plates necessary for the stereo model, and Watson cut out four types of nucleotide layouts from cardboard - guanine (G), cytosine (C), thymine (T) and adenine (A) - and began to lay them out 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 two strands of the DNA helix are connected to each other, that is, opposite thymine from one strand there will always be adenine from the other, and nothing else.

This arrangement made it possible to explain the mechanisms of DNA copying: two strands of the helix diverge, and to each of them an exact copy of its former "partner" along the spiral is completed from nucleotides. By the same principle as the positive is printed from the negative in the photograph.

Although 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. Rosalind did not live to see the award given to Wilkins, Watson and Creek.

It is obvious that the discovery of the spatial structure of DNA made a revolution in the world of science and entailed a number of new discoveries, without which it is impossible to imagine not only modern science, but also modern life in general.

In the sixties of the last century, the assumption of Watson and Crick about the mechanism of DNA replication (doubling) was fully confirmed. In addition, it was shown that a special protein, DNA polymerase, is involved in this process.

Around the same time, another important discovery was made - the genetic code. As mentioned above, DNA contains information about everything that is inherited, including the linear structure of each protein in the body. Proteins, like DNA, are long molecular chains of amino acids. There are 20 of these amino acids. Accordingly, it was unclear how the DNA "language" consisting of a four-letter alphabet is translated into a protein "language" where 20 "letters" are used.

It turned out that the combination of three DNA nucleotides clearly corresponds to one of the 20 amino acids. And thus "written" on DNA is unambiguously translated into protein.

In the seventies, two more important methods appeared, based on the discovery of Watson and Crick. This is the sequencing and production of recombinant DNA. Sequencing allows you to "read" the sequence of nucleotides in DNA. The entire Human Genome program is based on this method.

The production of recombinant DNA is also called molecular cloning. The essence of this method is that a fragment containing a specific gene is inserted into a DNA molecule. In this way, for example, bacteria are obtained that contain the human insulin gene. Insulin obtained in this way is called recombinant. All "genetically modified products" are created by the same method.

Paradoxically, the reproductive cloning that everyone is talking about now appeared before the structure of DNA was discovered. It is clear that now scientists conducting such experiments are actively using the results of the discovery of Watson and Crick. But, initially, the method was not based on it.

The next important step in science was the development of the polymerase chain reaction in the eighties. This technology is used to quickly "multiply" the desired DNA fragment and has already found many applications in science, medicine and technology. In medicine, PCR is used to quickly and accurately diagnose viral diseases. If the mass of DNA obtained from the patient's analysis, even in minimum quantity if there are genes brought by the virus, then using PCR you can achieve their "multiplication" and then easily identify.

A.V. Engström of the Karolinska Institute said at the award ceremony: "The discovery of the spatial molecular structure ... DNA is extremely important, as it outlines the possibilities for understanding in the smallest detail the general and individual characteristics of all living things." Engstrom noted that "the deciphering of the double helical structure of deoxyribonucleic acid with a specific pairing of nitrogenous bases opens fantastic possibilities for unraveling the details of the control and transmission of genetic information."



, Physiologist, Medic

Francis Harri Compton Creek is an English molecular biologist and geneticist. Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1962, jointly with James Dewey Watson and Maurice Wilkinson).

Francis Crick was born June 8, 1916, Northepton, UK, into the family of a successful shoe manufacturer. After the family moved to London, he studied at Mill Hill School, where his abilities in physics, chemistry and mathematics were manifested. In 1937, after graduating from the University of Oxford College, Crick received his Bachelor of Science degree in his thesis - the viscosity of water at high temperatures.

Every time I write a work on the origin of life, I decide that I will never write another ...

Scream Francis Harri Compton

In 1939, already during the Second World War, Francis Crick began working in the research laboratory of the Navy, dealing with deep sea mines. At the end of the war, while continuing to work in this department, he got acquainted with the book of the prominent Austrian scientist Erwin Schrödinger “What is life? Physical aspects of a living cell ”(1944), in which the spatio-temporal events taking place in a living organism were explained from the standpoint of physics and chemistry. The ideas presented in the book influenced Crick so much that, intending to study particle physics, he switched to biology.

After receiving a Fellowship from the Council for Medical Research, Crick began working at the Strangway Laboratory in Cambridge in 1947, where he studied biology, organic chemistry, and X-ray diffraction techniques used to determine the spatial structure of molecules. His knowledge of biology expanded significantly after moving in 1949 to the famous Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, one of the world's centers of molecular biology, where, under the leadership of the prominent biochemist Max Ferdinand Perutz, Francis Crick studied the molecular structure of proteins. He tried to find the chemical basis of genetics, which, he assumed, could be laid in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).

Process scientific research deeply intimate: sometimes we ourselves do not know what we are doing.

Scream Francis Harri Compton

In the same period, other scientists worked in the same field simultaneously with Crick. In 1950, the American biologist Erwin Chargaff of Columbia University concluded that DNA contains equal amounts of four nitrogenous bases - adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine. Crick's English colleagues M. Wilkins and R. Franklin from King's College, University of London carried out X-ray diffraction studies of DNA molecules.

In 1951, F. Crick began joint research with the young American biologist J. Watson at the Cavendish Laboratory. Building on the early research of Chargaff, Wilkins and Franklin, Crick and Watson, developing the spatial structure of the DNA molecule over two years, constructed a model of it from balls, pieces of wire and cardboard. According to their DNA model

The DNA nucleotide sequence contains (encoded) genetic information about all the characteristics of the species and the characteristics of the individual (individual) - its genotype. DNA regulates the biosynthesis of components of cells and tissues, determines the activity of the organism throughout its life. is a double helix, consisting of two chains of monosaccharide and phosphate, connected by base pairs inside the helix, and adenine combines with thymine, and guanine with cytosine, and the bases with each other by hydrogen bonds. The Watson-Crick model allowed other researchers to clearly understand the process of DNA synthesis. The two chains of the molecule are separated at the places of hydrogen bonds like opening a zipper, after which a new one is synthesized on each half of the old DNA molecule. The base sequence acts as a template or template for a new molecule.

In 1953, they completed the creation of the DNA model, and Francis Crick was awarded a Ph.D. from Cambridge, defended a thesis on X-ray diffraction analysis of protein structure. In 1954, he was engaged in deciphering the genetic code. Initially a theorist, Crick began, together with S. Brenner, the study of genetic mutations in bacteriophages - viruses that infect bacterial cells.

I can name three areas of science in which there has been very rapid progress. First of all, it is molecular biology and geology, which have developed explosively over the past 15–20 years. The third area is astronomy, in which the most important development was the creation of radio telescopes. It was with their help that many unforeseen and important phenomena in the Universe were discovered, such as pulsars, quasars and "black holes".

Scream Francis Harri Compton

By 1961, three types of ribonucleic acid (RNA) were discovered: informational, ribosomal, and transport. Crick and his colleagues have proposed a way to read the genetic code. In accordance with Crick's theory, messenger RNA receives genetic information from DNA in the cell nucleus and transfers it to ribosomes - the sites of protein synthesis in the cell cytoplasm. Transport RNA transfers amino acids to the ribosomes. Messenger RNA and ribosomal RNA interact with each other to ensure that amino acids are combined to form protein molecules in the correct sequence. The genetic code is composed of triplets of nitrogenous bases of DNA and RNA for each of the 20 amino acids. Genes are made up of numerous basic triplets, which Crick called codons, and they are the same in different species.

In 1962, Crick, Wilkins and Watson were awarded the Nobel Prize "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and their importance for the transmission of information in living systems." In the year he received the Nobel Prize, Crick became the head of the biological laboratory at the University of Cambridge and a foreign member of the Council of the Salk Institute in San Diego, California. In 1977, after moving to San Diego, Francis Creek turned to research in the field of neurobiology, in particular, the mechanisms of vision and dreams.

In his book Life As It Is: Its Origin and Nature (1981), the scientist noted the amazing similarity of all forms of life. Referring to discoveries in molecular biology, paleontology, and cosmology, he suggested that life on Earth could have originated from microorganisms that were scattered throughout space from another planet. He and his colleague L. Orgel called this theory "direct panspermia".

Creek Francis lived a long life; he passed away on July 30, 2004, in San Diego, USA, at the age of 88.

During his lifetime, Crick was awarded numerous prizes and awards (the Charles L. Mayer Prize of the French Academy of Sciences, 1961; Scientific Prize of the American Research Society, 1962; Royal Medal, 1972; John Singleton Copley Medal of the Royal Society, 1976).

Francis Crick quotes

Every time I write a work on the origin of life, I decide that I will never write another ...

The process of scientific research is deeply intimate: sometimes we ourselves do not know what we are doing.

I can name three areas of science in which there has been very rapid progress. First of all, it is molecular biology and geology, which have developed explosively over the past 15–20 years. The third area is astronomy, in which the most important development was the creation of radio telescopes. It was with their help that many unforeseen and important phenomena in the Universe were discovered, such as pulsars, quasars and "black holes".

Prof. Duluman E.K.

Nobel laureate Francis CRICK and atheism

(Until the 50th anniversary of the discovery of DNA)

If revealed religions

have revealed anything

it is that they

are usually wrong.

(If religions of Revelation ,

they open something there,

then these revelations, as a rule,

turn out to be deceitful)

Francis Creek

Francis Creek

In 2003, the world scientific community celebrated the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the DNA structure. The Russian Academy of Sciences to this significant event dedicated the entire sixth issue of "BULLETIN OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES" for 2003, festively calling it: TO THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE DNA STRUCTURE.

Leading and world-famous our academicians made detailed analytical and informative articles: L.L. Kiselev, "Anniversary of the most important molecule"; E. D. Sverdlov, "Great discovery: revolution, canonization, dogmas and heresy"; V. L. Karpov, "DNA, chromatin, histone code". By clicking on the title of these articles, you will be able to get acquainted with the full texts of their authors.

Academician L.L. Kiselev writes:

For the discovery of the structure of DNA, Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962.

After reading the articles in the academic bulletin, I remembered previously read atheistic articles and statements by Francis Harri Compton Crick ( Francis Harry Compton Crick)and his biography under an intriguing, if not strange, title: “ What mad pursuit», which can be translated as “ What the madman is looking for". It can be translated in another way, since the word "mad" can mean both "biased" and "selfless", and "in love" and "mad", and the word "Pursuit" - "to pursue", "persuade", "abide in search ". However, when reading Crick's autobiography, one gets the impression that he used the word "mad" in response to the Biblical accusation of an atheist of insanity: "Speech is a madman in his heart: There is no God" (Psalm 13: 1; 52: 2). In this place english translations The Bibles call the madman the word "mad".

In his autobiography " What mad pursuit» there is a special chapter that Crick has titled: "How I Got Inclined Towards Atheism" ("Why I leaned towards atheism"). We do not have the opportunity to retell all the interesting and unique thoughts of the great scientist about the atheistic and religious worldview. Here are just three of the most representative, in our opinion, quotations from this greatest scientist and staunch atheist ..

« The mere knowledge of the true age of the earth, as is convincingly evidenced by geological deposits, fossils of plants and animals, does not allow the intelligent mind to believe literally, like religious fundamentalists, in everything that is written in the Bible. And if some of the Bible's messages are clearly false, then on what basis should other biblical stories be taken as true?»

« Christian religious beliefs at the time of their formation, perhaps, responded not only to the imagination of believers, but also to the level of knowledge of that era. But, as tragic as it was, subsequent scientific discoveries not only decisively refuted Christian beliefs, but also exposed them in an unattractive light. What could be more stupid than justifying a lifestyle modern man completely erroneous ideas only on the basis of the fact that they, these ideas, were once considered true? And what could be more important than finding your true place in the universe, eliminating one by one these perverse remnants of earlier beliefs? But it is still clear that a number of mysteries still await their scientific explanation. As long as they are not explained, they can serve as a refuge for all kinds of religious superstitions.

For me, a matter of paramount importance was the desire to identify the still not understood areas of knowledge in biology, to achieve their true scientific understanding. Only in this way it was possible to confirm or deny religious beliefs.».

* * *

« The astonishing hypothesis is that your joys and sorrows, your memories and ambitions, your sense of self and free will are in fact nothing more than a manifestation of the activity of a huge complex of nerve cells and associated molecules. As Alice from Lewis Carroll's fairy tales would put it, you are just a bag of neurons ».

The "Religions of Revelation" are Judaism, Christianity and Islam, who believe that the content of their beliefs is revealed to them by God in the text of the Bible ...

(eng. FrancisCrick) was born, June 8 in Northampton, England; died at the age of 88

James Dewey Watson - American molecular biologist, geneticist and zoologist; best known for his participation in the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

After successfully graduating from the University of Chicago and Indiana University, Watson spent some time doing research in chemistry with biochemist Herman Kalckar in Copenhagen. He later moved to Cavendish's laboratory at the University of Cambridge, where he first met his future colleague and comrade Francis Crick.

Watson and Crick came up with the idea of \u200b\u200ba DNA double helix in mid-March 1953, studying experimental data collected by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins. The discovery was announced by Sir Lawrence Bragg, director of the Cavendish laboratory; this happened at a Belgian scientific conference on April 8, 1953. However, the press did not actually notice an important statement. On April 25, 1953, an article about the discovery was published in the scientific journal "Nature". Other biologists and a number of Nobel laureates quickly appreciated the monumental nature of the discovery; some even called it the greatest scientific discovery of the 20th century.

In 1962, Watson, Crick and Wilkins received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery. The fourth participant in the project, Rosalind Franklin, died in 1958 and, as a result, could no longer apply for the award. Watson also received a monument at the American Museum of Natural History in New York for his discovery; since such monuments are erected only in honor of American scientists, Crick and Wilkins were left without monuments.

Watson is considered to this day one of the greatest scientists in history; however, as a person, many openly disliked him. James Watson several times became a defendant in rather high-profile scandals; one of them was directly related to his work - the fact is that during the work on the DNA model, Watson and Crick used the data obtained by Rosalind Franklin, without her permission. With Franklin's partner, Wilkins, the scientists worked quite actively; Rosalind herself, quite possibly, until the end of her life, and might not know how important role her experiments played a role in understanding the structure of DNA.

From 1956 to 1976, Watson worked at the Harvard Department of Biology; during this period he was mainly interested in molecular biology.

In 1968, Watson was appointed director of the Cold Spring Harbor laboratory in Long Island, New York (Long Island, New York); Thanks to his efforts, the level of the quality of research work in the laboratory has significantly increased, and the funding has improved markedly. Watson himself during this period was primarily engaged in cancer research; along the way, he made the laboratory under his control one of the best centers of molecular biology in the world.

In 1994, Watson became president of the research center, in 2004 - rector; in 2007, he left the post after rather unpopular statements about the existence of a connection between the level of intelligence and origin.

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