Unravelling the Double Helix

by Gareth Williams

  321Bernal was ‘brilliant’: Maddox, p. 173.

  322‘we did not know’: Margin notes by MHFW on copy of a letter to J. Danielli about women in the Biophysics Unit, 17 Dec 1975. Wilkins Papers K/PP178/5/1/2.

  322a complete and irreversible break: Maddox, pp. 212–3.

  322Crick had drafted a reply: Reproduced in Watson 2012, p. 98.

  323this ‘supercoiled’ structure: Crick F.H.C. The Fourier transform of a coiled coil. Acta Cryst 1953; 6:685–9.

  323the ‘unconcealed amusement’: Watson 1968, pp. 110–5, 123–4. The resulting paper: Watson J.D. The structure of tobacco mosaic virus. I. X-ray evidence of a helical arrangement of sub-units around the longitudinal axis. Biochim Biophys Acta 1954; 13:10–20.

  323decorated internally: Professor Sonia Jackson, Thornbury, personal communication.

  323described being swept along: Watson 1968, pp. 115,125,131,173–4, 180–1, 184, etc, etc.

  323‘unkempt youth’: Professor Freddie Gutfreund, interview with GW, Upton, Oxon, 17 May 2017; ‘dressed like a tramp’: Max Perutz, quoted in Anonymous. Obituary: Francis Crick. Daily Telegraph, 30 July 2004.

  323a lecture on cosmology: Watson 1968, pp. 126–7. The link with his uncle Fred Griffith is described in: Lagnado J. From pabulum to prions (via DNA): a tale of two Griffiths. The Biochemist 2005; 27:33–35.

  324Griffith revealed his results: Ibid, p. 128.

  324The encounter went badly: Ibid, pp. 129–31.

  325the ‘electric’ result: Ibid, pp. 130–1;

  325Chargaff’s recollection of lunch: Chargaff 1978, p. 101; Judson, p. 119.

  325revealed in a long letter: written 20 May 1952. Olby 1974, pp. 367–8.

  326two young American research fellows: Watson 1968, pp. 137–8,155, 190.

  Chapter 24: Photo finish

  FHCC = Francis Crick; JDW = Jim Watson; MHFW = Maurice Wilkins; REF = Rosalind Franklin; WTA = Bill Astbury.

  327an attack of ’flu: Maddox, p. 205.

  327he rediscovered why: Wilkins 2003, pp. 196–7.

  327Ray Gosling came to find Wilkins: Ibid, pp. 197–8.

  327an intriguing provenance: Maddox, pp.177–8; Olby 1974, pp. 369–70. The exposure was about 62 hours. REF’s lab notes: ‘Structure B. Photograph 51C’, 23 Feb 1953. Wilkins Papers, K/PP178/5/2.

  328a one-day symposium: Maddox, p. 186; Watson 1968, pp. 117–8. Detailed correspondence between WTA and Pauling is in Astbury Papers MS419, Box E135; includes WTA’s admission that ‘music is my chief consolation in a very tiresome world’.

  328assailed by doubts: Maddox, p. 176.

  328Wilkins’s account of what happened: Wilkins 2003, p. 198.

  329Franklin’s farewell seminar: as seen by Wilkins, Ibid, pp. 201, 203–4. The seminar started at 6.30 pm; Gosling also spoke: Judson, p. 155.

  329a depressed note: letter from MHFW to FHCC, Feb 1953, Wilkins Papers, K/PP178/3/5/6. Also Wilkins 2003, pp. 203–4.

  330Those waiting for him: Ibid, pp. 204–5. Compare Watson’s account of ‘the social visit arranged weeks before’: Watson 1968, p. 179.

  330sitting pretty: Ibid, pp. 156–7,159–62; Judson, p. 154–5; Olby 1974, p. 394.

  330the year-long moratorium: Watson 1968, p. 122; Wilkins 2003, p. 205.

  330even Bragg wanted the Cavendish: Watson 1968, pp. 172–3.

  330their ‘horrible’ request: Wilkins 2003, pp. 205–7.

  331Randall heard about Pauling’s DNA model: letter from Pauling to JTR, 31 Dec 1952. Reproduced in Watson 2012, p. 166.

  331‘unbeatable combination’: Watson 1968, p. 36.

  331His triumphant DNA structure: Watson 2012, pp. 172–3; Portugal & Cohen, pp. 253–4. The paper: Pauling & Corey.

  332‘pretty lamentable’: MHFW quoted in Judson, p. 101.

  332Watson’s story is radically different: Watson 1968, pp. 164–6. See also Judson, pp. 158–61.

  333‘opened up Maurice’: Watson 1968, p. 167.

  333‘the instant I saw the picture’: Ibid, pp. 167–9. Wilkins’s later reaction to Watson’s version of events is in 2003, pp. 218–9.

  333another supper in Soho: Watson 1968, pp. 170–1.

  334‘Francis would have to agree’: Ibid, p. 171.

  334‘the pressure of necessity’: Wilkins 2003, p. 208.

  334Chargaff’s mysterious ratios: Ibid, pp. 199–200. Wilkins later laid out his thinking (‘getting closer’) in his handwritten and unpublished ‘Notes on my contribution to X-ray work with DNA’, 15 June 1985. Wilkins Papers, K/PP178/5/1/2.

  334On the practical side: Wilkins 2003, pp. 196, 209–10.

  335‘real live genetical material’: Ibid, pp. 208–9.

  335Wilkins wrote to ‘My Dear Francis’: Ibid, p. 210. Reproduced in Watson 2012, p. 218. Wilkins Papers, K/PP178/3/5/7. ‘Dark lady’ may be an allusion to Shakespeare’s ‘Dark Lady’ Sonnets (Nos. 127–52).

  335Bragg listened to the evidence: Watson 1968, pp. 1723.

  335Watson took his designs: Ibid, pp. 173–5.

  335‘No fresh facts came’: Ibid, p. 145.

  336its crystallographic designation: Watson 2012, p. 196; Crick 1988, p. 71.

  336‘Rosy’s precise measurements’: Ibid, pp. 181–2.

  336‘stereochemically even more unsatisfactory’: Ibid, p. 70, where Crick describes Watson’s reasoning as ‘very feeble’; Watson 2012, p. 196.

  337picked up Franklin’s cue: Watson 1968, pp. 177–9; Crick 1988, p. 70.

  337his later account of the visit: Watson 1968, p. 179.

  337And so Watson continued: Ibid, pp. 180–1. the structures of the bases: Davidson, pp. 6–7.

  337‘pairs of adenine residues whirling’: Watson 1968, p. 188.

  338‘torn to shreds’: Ibid, pp. 189–93.

  338‘Suddenly, I became aware’: Ibid, pp. 194–6.

  338‘no objection’: Ibid, p. 196.

  338‘slightly queasy’: Ibid, p. 197.

  339‘by the blackboard’: Olby 1974, p. 413.

  339Crick had ‘no recollection’: Crick 1988, p. 77.

  340‘one of our strongest supporters’: Watson 1968, pp. 204–5.

  340‘just went straight home’: Olby 1974, p. 414.

  340the morning of Monday 9 March: Watson 1968, pp. 205–8.

  340‘tension in the air’: Wilkins 2003, p. 211.

  340Gazing up at it: Ibid, pp. 211–3.

  341some sort of backlash: Watson 1968, pp. 208–9.

  341‘an angry outburst’: Wilkins 2003, pp. 213–4.

  342Wilkins told ‘everybody’: Maddox, p. 209.

  342Gosling took the news: Gosling is quoted in: Anonymous. Due credit. Nature 2013; 496:270.

  342Franklin’s lab book shows: Klug 1968; Maddox, p. 201; Olby 1974, pp. 418–9.

  343a copy of the draft paper: Ibid, pp. 417–8; Wilkins 2003, pp. 215–6. Wilkins’s reply: note to FHCC, 18 March 1953, Wilkins Papers, K/PP178/3/5/8.

  343lunch in the Athenaeum: Anonymous, Due credit, Nature (above); Wilkins 2003, p. 216.

  343Wilkins scribbled a note: Ibid, pp. 216–8.

  344an elated postcard: from MHFW to FHCC, undated. Wilkins Papers, K/PP178/3/5/3.

  344Typists were also in absentia: Watson 1968, pp. 220–1.

  344A visiting dignitary: Gerard Pomerat. Watson 2012, p. 236.

  344wrote home to his wife: Ibid, p. 235; Watson 1968, pp. 222–3.

  344how ‘gracefully’ she agreed: Ibid, p. 210; Judson, p. 178.

  345‘too old to be unusual’: Watson 1968, pp. 215–6.

  345a trilogy of papers: Franklin & Gosling 1953a; Wilkins, Stokes & Wilson 1953; Watson & Crick 1953a.

  347‘stimulated by a knowledge’: footnote, Watson & Crick 1953a p. 738.

  347Delbrück wrote to Watson: Olby 1974, p. 423.

  347‘their formulation of the structure’: Ibid, p. 422.

  348‘Be careful’, from ‘God’: Tucker A. Obituary. Francis Crick, Guardian, 30 July 2004.

  348‘got out of control’: Olby 1974, p. 421.

/>   348an attack of cold feet: Ibid.

  349‘an adequate description’: Crick 1988, pp. 78–9.

  349Wilkins was also there: Wilkins 2003, p. 222.

  Chapter 25: Aftershocks

  351staking their next claim: Watson & Crick 1953b.

  352appeared alongside film stars: Judson, p. 276.

  352Crick’s verdict was blunt: Ibid, pp. 280, 284.

  352The end result: Brenner S., Jacob F., Meselson M. An unstable intermediate carrying information to genes to ribosomes for protein synthesis. Nature 1961; 190:576–81; Gros F., Hiatt H., Gilbert W., Kurland C.G., Risebrough R.W., Watson J.D. Unstable ribonucleic acid revealed by pulse labelling of Esherichia coli. Nature 1961; 190:581.

  353His talk ‘On protein synthesis’: Crick F.H.C. On protein synthesis. Symp Soc Exp Biol 1958; 12:155–7; see Judson, p. 333.

  353two-faced ‘adaptor molecules’: Judson, pp. 290–1; Doctor B.P., Apgar J., Holley R.W. Fractionation of yeast amino acid acid-acceptor RNA by countercurrent distribution. J Biol Chem 1961; 236:1117–20.

  353a solid Cambridge fixture: Crick 1988, p. 78; Bretscher & Mitchison, pp. 30–3.

  353Bragg had decreed: Maddox, p. 303; Letter from Wilkins to Randall, 27 November 1953, Wilkins Papers K/178PP/3/35/3.

  354other models continued to appear: Arnott S., Hukins D.W.L. Refinement of the structure of B-DNA and implications for the analysis of X-ray diffraction data from fibers of biopolymers. J Mol Biol 1973; 81:93–105.

  354they used human DNA: Wilkins 2003, pp. 233–7.

  354‘Years seemed to slip by’: Ibid, pp. 229, 235.

  354nailed the position: Wilkins’s seven further papers on forms of DNA were published between 1955 and 1966; nos. 6 to 12 are listed in the Bibliography of Arnott, Kibble & Shallice, p. 478.

  354‘not likely to reveal much’: Wilkins 2003, p. 238.

  354he met Patricia Chidgey: Ibid, pp. 235–6; Arnott, Kibble & Shallice, p. 473.

  355‘a palace for a slum’: Maddox, pp. 217–21. During a drunken party with Bernal in 1950, Picasso drew a sketch of two ‘Peace’ figures on a wall in Bernal’s flat. It survived an attempt by two workmen to paint over it and is now in the Wellcome Collection in London. See: Sold for £250,000: a doodle by Picasso. Daily Telegraph, 2 April 2007.

  356slow to settle in: Ibid, pp. 255–7.

  356a shirty letter: Letter from Randall to Franklin, 17 April 1953; reproduced in Maddox, p. 212.

  356an article on the A form: Franklin & Gosling 1953b.

  356‘a most elegant application of the Patterson method’: Klug 1968. Wilkins’s reservations: annotations to Franklin’s lab notes, October 1992, Wilkins Papers K/PP178/5/2 and 3.

  356The first Acta Crystallographica paper, and its successors: Franklin & Gosling 1953c, 1953d, 1955.

  357‘my fate was sealed’: Maddox, p. 249.

  357she encountered a hurricane: Maddox, pp. 239–46.

  357Her breakthrough: Franklin R.E., Holmes K.C. Tobacco mosaic virus: application of the method of isomorphous replacement to the determination of the helical parameters and radial density distribution. Acta Cryst 1958; 11:213–20.

  357An early result: Franklin R.E., Commoner B. Location of the ribonucleic acid in the TMV particle. Nature 1956; 177:929–30; Caspar D. Radial density distribution in the TMV particle. Nature 1956; 177:928.

  357bicycle handlebar grips: Maddox, p. 261.

  358got on particularly well: Ibid, pp. 267–8.

  358disregarded the fogged film-badges: Ibid, p. 101 and 144.

  358alongside the food in the fridge: Jenifer Glynn, interview with GW, Cambridge, 11 May 2017.

  358she heard from Sir Lawrence Bragg: Maddox, p. 275. The conference photo is reproduced in Wilkins 2003, Plate 27, opposite p. 178.

  358her second American tour quickly: Maddox, pp. 278–84.

  359while convalescing: Ibid, p. 289; Professor Freddie Gutfreund, interview with GW, Upton, Oxon, 18 May 2017.

  359‘Rosalind had been unwell’: Maddox, p. 289.

  359‘looking okay’: Ibid, p. 292.

  359a conference in Geneva: Ibid, p. 292. The photograph of Rosalind Franklin and Don Caspar is in the plates before p. 205.

  359a beautifully clear chapter: Franklin, Caspar & Klug.

  360behind the workaholic facade: Maddox, p. 284 et seq.

  360eloquent obituaries: Bernal 1958.

  360Her epitaph: Maddox, p. 307.

  361the Albert Lasker Award: Wilkins 2003, pp. 238–9.

  361a Swedish journalist rang him: Ibid, p. 240.

  362a thank-you note to his chief: Letter from Wilkins to Randall, October 1962. KCLA, K/PP178/3/35/3.

  362Wilkins had not looked forward: Wilkins 2003, p. 240.

  362the official gallery: the 1962 Nobel Prize Ceremony photo gallery, video of the ceremony and text of the speeches, is at https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1962. See also Watson 2012, pp. 248–56.

  364Watson, Crick and Wilkins merited a prize: Judson, pp. 194–5. The letter from Pauling to L. Bragg, 15 December 1959, is at http://scarc.library.oregonstate.edu/coll/pauling/dna/corr/corr30.l-lpbragg-19591215.html.

  364Stokes suggested (in jest): Obituary: Dr Alec Stokes. Daily Telegraph, 28 February 2003.

  364Chargaff insisted (not in jest): Judson H. No Nobel for whining. New York Times, 20 October 2003.

  364Crick’s only reaction: Crick 1988, p. 80.

  364inspired by a fleeting encounter: Watson 1968, pp. 3–4.

  364a cunning piece of diplomacy: Professor Tony North, interview with GW, Leeds, 28 February 2018.

  365Bragg had initially been furious: Judson, p. 183; Watson 1968, pp. vii-ix.

  365Crick was concerned: Crick and Wilkins’s views on Honest Jim: Judson, p. 101, 182; Wilkins 2003, p. 251. Wilkins’s letter to Watson, 6 October 1966, is reproduced in Watson 2012, pp. 288–9.

  365Watson wrote to tell Crick: Letter from Watson to Crick, 23 November 1966, reproduced in Watson 2012, p. 291.

  366libellous and disgraceful: Bernal’s letter to Kendrew, 20 December 1966, is reproduced in Watson 2012, pp. 292–3.

  366an unpleasant six-page rant: pages 1, 2 and 6 of letter from Crick to Watson, 13 April 1967 (omitting Crick’s comments about Watson’s affection for his sister) are in Watson 2012, pp. 296–8.

  366a perfect storm: Snow C.P., Jacket blurb on UK edition, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1968; Bronowski J., Honest Jim and the Tinker Toy Model. Nation, 18 March 1968, vol 206, p. 381; Medawar P.B., Lucky Jim, New York Review, 28 March 1968; Lear J., Review of The Double Helix, New York Times, 16 March 1968; Chargaff E. A quick climb up Mount Olympus. Science 1968; 159:1449.

  367‘I was racing Peter’s father’: Watson, 1968, p. 184. The friend was Bertrand Fourcade, whom Watson described as ‘the most beautiful male if not person in Cambridge’ (Ibid, p. 174).

  368surprised by the repeated references: Crick 1988, p. 81.

  368Wilkins dismissed Watson’s account: Wilkins 2003, p. 250; ‘Wilkins was dismayed’: Ibid, p. 251.

  368‘Rosy’, as Watson calls her: Watson 1968, pp. 16–20, 68–70, 164–9. The Epilogue, pp. 225–6.

  369Watson had to apologise publicly: Watson J.D. DNA helix (letter). Science 1969; 161:1539.

  369Aaron Klug wrote detailed and forceful articles: Klug 1968, 1974, 2004.

  369set out to right the wrongs: Sayre; Maddox; Glynn. See also Glynn J. Rosalind Franklin: 50 years on. Notes Rec Roy Soc 2008; 62:253–5. doi: 10.1098/rsnr.2007.0052.

  369the ‘most prominent demon’: Wilkins 2003, p. x.

  370as Erwin Chargaff said: Judson, p. 142.

  Chapter 26: Retrospective

  371the process described by William Blake: Proverbs of Hell (1790).

  371Definitive confirmation: Crick 2003, p. 73.

  371if ‘Watson had been killed’: Ibid, pp. 75–6; Crick F. The Double Helix: a personal view. Nature 1974; 248:766–9.

  371Bragg concurred: Judson, p. 195.

  371Aaron Klug thought: Klug’s
annotations on Franklin’s lab records. King’s College Archives, K/PP178/; Portugal & Cohen, p. 265.

  372Watson’s public lecture of 2005: TED Talk, 2005, ‘How we discovered DNA’, is at https://www.ted.com/speakers/james_watson.

  372‘a tremendous leap’: Blow, p. 238.

  372According to Crick, Watson’s realisation: Crick 2003, pp. 65–6.

  372‘we struck gold’: Obituary – Francis Crick. Daily Telegraph 30 July 2004.

  372his own interpretation of the process: Klug 2004.

  373‘A science which hesitates’: A.N. Whitehead, quoted in Kuhn T.S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962.

  373the ‘absurd wet blanket’: Chargaff E. What really is DNA? Remarks on the changing aspects of a scientific concept. Progr Nucl Acids Res 1968; 8:297–333.

  373The Young Man in a Hurry: Cornford FM. Microcosmographia Academica, being a Guide for the Young Academic Politician. London: Bowes & Bowes, 1908, p. 5.

  374a biography of the pneumococcus: McCarty 1985, p. 68.

  374A reminder of his previous life: Avery’s later years are described in Dubos 1976, p. 168 et seq; McCarty 1985, p. 68.

  374nominated forty-four times: Dubos 1976, p. 56–8; Portugal F. Oswald T Avery: Nobel Laureate or Noble Luminary? Perspect Biol Med 2010; 53:558–70; Reichard P. Osvald Avery and the Nobel Prize in Medicine. J Biol Chem 2002; 277: 13355–62.

  374The ‘failure of the men in Stockholm’: letter from Alvin Coburn to Joshua Lederberg, 19 November 1965. At: https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/ResourceMetadata/CCAAIW.

  374‘the seminal discovery’: Joshua Lederberg, quoted in: Holley J. Pioneering geneticist, Maclyn McCarty, dies. Washington Post, 6 Jan 2005.

  374enough for two Nobel Prizes: Herman Kalckar, quoted in Judson, p. 93.

  375‘the art with which he composed’: Dubos 1976, p. 59.

  375‘the most deserving scientist never to be awarded’: Arne Tiselius, quoted in Reichard 2002 (above).

  375the Avery Memorial Gateway: Dubos 1976, p. 8; documents in the Oswald T. Avery Collection of National Library of Medicine, http://profiles/nlm.nih.gov/ps/ResourceMetadata/CCAADT.

  375An authoritative history of the Institute: Corner, pp. 461–2.

  375a compendium of American scientists: Carey C.W. American Biographies. American Scientists. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2014, pp. 10–11.