Unravelling the Double Helix
Page 54
Miescher, Friedrich
Basel – University
lectureship 14–15
nuclein research 15
nutrition studies 16
overwork 16–17
professorship 15
protamine research 15–16
resignation 18
salmon studies 15–16
teaching difficulties 16
Vesalianum, opening of the 17
birth and childhood 10
Davos – sanatorium 17–19, 20–21
death 19
heredity, musings on 21
histochemistry 28
legacy 19–20
Leipzig – Ludwig’s laboratory 13–14
marriage and children 17
overview of xxii-xxiii
photograph 18
tuberculosis 17–19
Tübingen – Hoppe-Seyler’s
laboratory joining 11
leucocyte research 11–12
nuclei, extraction of 12
nuclein, discovery of 12–13, 372
typhus 10
unfinished work 19–20
Untersuchungen nuclein paper 14
Mirsky, Alfred E.
background 204
Cold Spring Harbor Conference (1947) 236–37, 238
Golden Jubilee of Genetics 258
Harvey Lecture 259
New York – Rockefeller Institute
DNA as transforming principle, denial of 211, 212, 216–17, 237, 238, 373
DNA identified in plasmosin 204–5, 244, 245
McCarty, feud with 216–17
not mentioned in Avery’s
DNA paper 211
plasmosin/chromosin discovery 203–4, 204–5
retirement 377
transforming principle identity research with Avery’s lab 205, 206–7
overview of xxiii
photograph 237
mitosis 30–33, 31, 32
molecular biology
building new discipline 234, 270, 385
invention of term 155, 223, 378–79
Leeds University’s department 223–24
Randall’s research proposal 225–26
Moore, J.E.S. 33
Morgan, Thomas Hunt
death 230
European tour 62–63
Mechanism of Mendelian Heredity, The (Morgan et al) 68
Mendel’s research, acceptance of 67–68
Mendel’s research, mockery of 59, 62–63
New York – Columbia University
chromosomal mapping 67–68, 116
co-inheritance studies 67–68
departure from 116
fruit fly mutations research 63–68, 105, 109–10, 110
gene locations on chromosomes 116
Nobel Prize 116
overview of xxiii
Pasadena – Caltech Institute of Biology 116
photograph 62
Royal Society Croonian Lecture 110
Woods Hole, MA – Marine Biological Laboratory 61–62
Mudd, Stuart 165
Muller, Herman 64–65, 66, 68, 114, 169, 171, 218, 230, 300
mustard gas 105, 179, 199
mutations 1–2, 3–4, 7, 34, 65–68, 109–10, 110, 116, 225, 230
Nägeli, Carl von 46–48, 57, 60
Napp, Abbot Cyrill 39–40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 48
Nature
25 April 1953 issue 345–47
Astbury and Bell, structure of thymonucleic acid 161, 163
Astbury’s letter about ‘molecular biology’ term 378–79
Bernal and Crowfoot, pepsin X-Ray crystallography 255
Bragg (L), halite crystallography 101
Bragg (L), mica crystallography 101
Bragg (W), Bragg – Barkla feud 98–99
Bragg (W), letters about son 101
Chargaff, base ratios 288
Crick and Cochrane, protein structure 307
Crick and Watson, DNA replication mechanism 351
Crick and Watson, DNA structure 7, 344, 346–47
Crick and Watson, virus structure 352
Franklin and Gosling, DNA structure 343, 344, 345–46, 356
Franklin, TMV 357
Franklin’s obituary 360
Furberg, DNA structure 256
Vavilov’s obituary 230, 231
Watson, mRNA papers 352
Wilkins and Gosling, DNA structure 275
Wilkins, Stokes and Wilson, DNA structure 343–44, 346
Nature of the Chemical Bond, The (Pauling) 252
Neufeld, Friedrich 133–35, 140, 141, 142, 149, 175, 229
New York Times 80, 83, 86, 107, 111, 366–67
Newton, Margaret 169
Norrish, Ronald 279–80
North, Tony 364–65
Northrop, John 199, 210
nuclear bomb 192–93, 195, 199
nuclei, cellular
Brown’s ‘areola’ studies 25–26, 25
division 26–27, 28–29
histological studies 27–28
Huxley’s denial of importance 27
‘one cell, one nucleus’ rule 26
shapes 26
term, invention of 26
nucleic acids
bases see bases
building blocks of 86, 91, 91
as candidate for genetic
substance 83, 115, 164, 208, 209, 212
Kossel’s dismissal of 113–14
Levene’s research 82–83, 85–86, 113
sugars in 86, 90, 111–12
term, invention of 75
viruses 166
see also DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid); RNA (ribonucleic acid); thymonucleic acid; yeast nucleic acid
Nucleic Acids (Levene) 113
nuclein
building-blocks 70–75
Flemming’s research 35
Kossel’s research on bases 70–75
Miescher’s research 12–15, 21, 28, 69–70
phosphate content 74
renamed ‘nucleic acid’ 75
Russow’s research 34–35
see also chromatin; nucleic acids
nucleosides 255–56
nucleotides
Chargaff’s Rules 246–48, 247
name 90–91
sequence 165, 240, 353
tetranucleotide hypothesis 91, 91, 112–13, 115, 205, 217, 220–21, 235
Nunn May, Allen 226–27
Oliphant, Mark 186, 187–88, 189, 190, 191, 192
opals 93–94
Origin of Species, The (Darwin) 52
Osler, William 87
Ossietsky, Carl von 175
paper chromatography 246
Pasadena Conference 352
Pasteur, Louis 133
Path to the Double Helix, The (Olby) 376
Patterson function/analysis 292, 295–96, 319–20, 345, 356, 357
Patterson, Lindo 292
Pauling, Linus
background and education 251
Cavendish Laboratory, visits to 254, 344
Communist sympathies, suspected of 291, 328
Crick–Watson model, second 344, 347
Crick’s ‘supercoils’ paper 323
Langmuir Prize 251
Nature of the Chemical Bond, The (Pauling) 252
Nobel Peace Prize 362
overview of xxiii
Pasadena – Caltech
alpha-helix 253, 291
beta-sheet papers 291
chemical bonds 252–53
electron diffraction 352
Pauling–Corey DNA model 330, 331–32, 372
Pauling’s Five Rules 251
Wilkins’ photographs, request for 297
X-ray crystallography 251
photograph 252
PNAS papers 291
Pauling, Peter 326, 330
Pavlov, Ivan 81, 107, 111
Pearson, Karl 59
Peierls, Rudolf 192
pentoses 74, 85–86, 90, 112; see also deoxyribose
pep
sin 35, 181, 255
Perutz, Max
background and education 271–72
Cambridge – Cavendish
Laboratory
Crick joining lab 273
joining 271, 272
Watson joining lab 303
Cambridge – University, Bernal’s lab 272
Franklin’s A-form DNA work 319, 336
Leeds – University 158
Nobel Prize 362
Pauling’s alpha-helix, reaction to 292
Second World War 272
Watson’s book 369
Watson’s imagination 372
phagocytosis 133–34
phenotype 59–60
Planck, Max 95, 96, 106, 107
plasmosin 203, 204–5
Ploetz, Alfred 173–74
Plósz, Pal 14
pneumonia, lobar
antibody research 133–35, 146–48
capsulated vs. non-capsulated strains 133
description 87, 133
pneumococci bacteria 133
Smethwick outbreak 131–32
‘soluble specific substance’ (SSS) 146–48, 149, 152, 180–81, 201–2, 206–7
transformation research 138–42, 140, 149–50, 151
transforming principle see transforming principle
treatments 87, 133, 178
Pollister, Arthur 204, 216, 243, 249
Pratt, Margaret 318
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) 291, 301, 330
protamines 15–16, 72, 80, 114, 204, 235
Protamines and Histones, The (Kossel) 113–14
protein synthesis 164, 165, 352–53
proteins as candidate for genetic substance 21, 114–15, 163–64, 165
Protonuclein 22, 69, 92
purines 75–77, 76; see also adenine; base-pairing; guanine
pus 9–12, 203
pyrimidines 75–77, 76; see also base-pairing; cytosine; thymine; uracil
Randall, John T.
background and education 185
Birmingham – University
joining 186
luminescence research 187
magnetron, development of the 185
Wilkins joining lab 186–87
Cambridge, MA – MIT 227
Cambridge, UK – Cavendish Laboratory 194
character 191, 276, 282–83, 287, 383
Crick – Watson DNA model, final 342
death 382
Edinburgh – University 382
London – General Electric Company 185–86
London – MRC Biophysics Unit
applying for MRC grant 296
camaraderie 276
cilia research 381–82
Crick, refusal to offer job to 270
DNA research, overseeing 296–97, 311, 334
Franklin, job offer to 277–78, 281–82
Franklin’s transfer to Birkbeck 321–22
move to and plans for 228
Nature 25 April 1953 papers 343
premises 262–63
projects 264–65
team 263–64
magnetron patent 194, 227
overview of xxiii-xxiv
Pasadena Conference 352
Pauling–Corey DNA model 331
photograph 186
Royal Society Fellowship 225, 228
Royal Society lecture 285
Royal Society/MRC funding bid 225–26
‘Sonnets and Poems’ (Masefield) 386–87
St Andrews – University 194, 225–26, 228
Wilkins’s Nobel Prize nomination 361
Wilkins’s obituary for 382–83
Wilkins’s opinion of 190
Wilkins, relationship with 187, 191, 276, 282–83, 287
Wilkins’ Royal Society
Fellowship, proposal for 353
recessive alleles 38, 43, 56, 58, 60
Recollections from my 50-year career as a bacteriologist (Neufeld) 229
Reimann, Hobart 141–42
ribonuclease (RNase) 181–82, 237
ribose 86, 90, 112, 181–82
Ris, Hans 236, 244
Rivers, Tom 177, 178–79, 182, 202, 208–9, 219
RNA (ribonucleic acid) 3, 181–82, 245, 314, 323, 352, 353, 357, 362; see also yeast nucleic acid
RNase (ribonuclease) 181–82, 237
Rockefeller, John D. 83, 86, 173
Roempler, Louis 36
Roentgen, Wilhelm 95, 107
Rous, Peyton 211, 212, 374
Russow, Edmund 34–35
Rutherford, Ernest 98, 101, 102, 126, 293
Salk, Jonas 358
Sayers, Jim 227
Schmalhausen, Ivan 53
Schmidt, W.G. 159
Schrödinger, Erwin 122, 193, 234–35, 251
Science 218, 367, 369
Scott, William 136–37, 213
Search, The (Snow) 380
Second World War
‘alien’ scientists sent to Canada 272
Astbury’s war work 196
Bernal’s war work 195–96
Leningrad, Siege of 231–32
Lonsdale’s wartime imprisonment 196
magnetron, development of the 187–88
nuclear bomb 192–93, 195
Poland, Hitler’s invasion of 167
Rockefeller Institute’s war work 179, 199
Seeds, Bill 308–9, 334, 364
Sepia (cuttlefish) 99, 225, 264, 286, 287, 293, 317
sex-linked traits 67
Shaw, George Bernard 133–34
Sia, Richard 149–50
Signer, Rudolf 160, 266, 316, 317
Snow, C.P. 366
Social Function of Science, The (Bernal) 198
Society for Experimental Biology symposium (1946) 224–25
sodium thymonucleate see DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)
Solvay Conference (1913) 101
‘Sonnets and Poems’ (Masefield) 386–87
Speed, Odile see Crick, Odile (née Speed)
SSS (soluble specific substance) 146–48, 149, 152, 180–81, 201–2, 206–7
Stalin, Joseh 170–71, 257
Stanley, Wendell 210, 359
Stazione Zoologica conference (1951) 286–87
Stokes, Alec 264–65, 282, 294–95, 307, 308–9, 334, 344, 345, 346, 364
Strangeways, Thomas 270–71
Studies of Nuclein and its Breakdown Products (Kossel) 71
Studies of plant hybridisation (Mendel) 46–47, 49–50, 56, 57–58
Sturtevant, Alfred 64, 67–68, 116, 254
sulfanilamide 200
sulfapyridine 178
Summers, Dr T.O. 22
Sutton-Boveri chromosomal theory of inheritance 55–56, 105
Sutton, Walter xxiv, 54–56, 105
Synge, Richard 246
Taylor, Harriett F.W. 219, 220, 222, 241
tetranucleotide hypothesis 91, 91, 112–13, 112, 115, 205, 217, 220–21, 235, 241, 247
Third Man of the Double Helix, The (Wilkins) 384
Thomson, J.J. 99, 100, 121
Threlfall, J.C. 241
thymine
absence from yeast cells 73, 74
Kossel’s isolation of 72
pairing with adenine 248, 324, 338, 339, 340–41
presence in animal cells 74
pyrimidine base 75
structure 76, 76
see also bases
thymonucleic acid 75, 159–63, 162, 164–65
thymus 26, 72
timeline xiii-xvii
Times 107, 360
titrimeter 199
Tizard, Sir Henry 184–85
tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) 310–11, 323, 356–57, 359, 360
‘Transformation of pneumococcal types in vitro, The’ (Dawson and Sia) 150
transforming principle
components 182
identified as DNA 204–9
Astbury’s reaction 222–23
Avery, MacLeod and McCarty’s research 205–10
Avery’s report to Institute 211–12
Boivin’s confirmatory research 237
Hotchkiss’ confirmatory research 220–21
J. of Experimental Medicine paper 210–11, 212, 216, 222
Mirsky’s ridicule of 216–17
Taylor’s confirmatory research 220
identity research
Alloway’s 151
Avery and MacLeod’s 177–78, 180–82
Avery and McCarty’s 201–2
Dawson and Sia’s 150
Dawson’s 149
properties 152
trypsin 181
Tschermak, Erich von 57
tuberculosis research 17–19, 135, 136
uracil 73–74, 75, 76
Van Beneden, Edouard 29, 33, 54
Van Slyke, Donald 85, 88
Vand, Vladimir 307
Vavilov, Nikolai
appearance and character 169
arrest 171–72
ascent under Lenin 170
death in prison 231
disappearance 171–72, 184, 197
imprisonment 230–31, 231
International Conference on Genetics (1939) 166
Lysenko’s hatred of 170, 171
overview of xxiv
photographs 169, 231
Royal Society Foreign Membership 197–98
scientific convictions 171
seed bank 168–69, 231–32
wheat genetics 168–69
Vegard, Lars 99
Vendrely, Roger and Colette 244
Vesalius, Andreas 17
virus research
bacteriophages 219, 300–301, 302
and nucleic acids 166–67
poliovirus 358
tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) 310–11, 323, 356–57, 359, 360
Vischer, Ernst 246–48
Waldeyer, Wilhelm 32
Watson, Elizabeth 344
Watson, James (Jim) D.
2005 public lecture 385
background 300
California – Caltech 352
Cambridge, MA – Harvard University 352
Cambridge, UK – Cavendish
Laboratory
Chargaff, meeting with 324
Crick–Watson DNA model, final 7–8, 335–39, 339, 340, 341, 372–73
Crick–Watson DNA model, initial 308–10
DNA base-pairing 338
DNA hydrogen bonds 337–38
DNA Photograph 51, being shown 328–29, 332–34
DNA replication mechanism 351, 351
Hardy Club talk on DNA model 349
joining 299–300, 302–3
London–Cambridge Rat Race 330–31, 332, 335
MRC Biophysics Unit colloquium 1951 305–6
opinions about people and place 303–4
talks with Wilkins and Crick 304–5
tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) research 310–11, 323
virus structure research 352
Wilkins’ letter from Zurich 325
character 300, 385–86
conference presentations and attendances
Cold Spring Harbor Symposium (1953) 352
Pasadena Conference on protein structure (1953) 352
Stazione Zoologica Conference (1951) 299, 302