The Double Helix

Summary
James Watson’s account of how he and fellow scientist Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA is a famous piece of popular science writing. There is as much about the personalities ofthe scientists involved in the momentous race that finally identified the double helix as there is about proteins and crystallography. Non-scientists can enjoy his story of human achievement andweakness as much as readers with a science background.
The events of the story take place over only three years, from 1950 to 1953. It begins in the cold north of Copenhagen, with Watson’s arrival inEurope in search of a career. Various branches of science failed to interest him and he is quite honest about his unfocused early working life. Knowing that his real interest lay in nderstanding
genes,he moved to Cambridge University in England, where he immediately teamed up with the excitable Francis Crick. Crick’s loud voice gave many of his colleagues a continuous headache.
Advances inunderstanding DNA were being made across the Atlantic by a brilliant American scientist, Linus Pauling. Watson and Crick know that time is short and that they are in a race with Pauling to find the structureof DNA. The middle section of the book deals with their attempt to understand DNA by using models. They can’t persuade any other scientists that theirs is the right way, however, and after a failedfirst attempt, their work on DNA stops. Having upset all the people who could have helped them, it seems that Crick and Watson will never make it. Life at Cambridge ontinues and Watson has plenty tosay about accommodation and meals in Cambridge colleges.
In the final part of the book, the race to unravel DNA gets hotter. Linus Pauling at Cal Tech in Pasadena, California, is nearly there. Hepublishes a paper, but too soon. Watson and Crick immediately realize that he has made a fundamental error. Their desire to win the race sends them running back to their DNA ideas and models. Watson...