Genes, Girls and Gamow by James D Watson
In 1953 Watson and Crick discovered the double helical structure of DNA and Watson's personal account of the discovery, The Double Helix, was published in 1968. Genes, Girls and Gamow is also autobiographical, covering the period from when The Double Helix ends, in 1953, to a few years later, and ending with a Postscript bringing the story up to date. Here is Watson adjusting to new-found fame, carrying out tantalizing experiments on the role of RNA in biology, and falling in love. The book is enlivened with copies of handwritten letters from the larger than life character George Gamow, who had made significant contributions to physics but became intrigued by genes, RNA and the elusive genetic code. This is a tale of heartbreak, scientific excitement and ambition, laced with travelogue and '50s atmosphere.
Review from previous edition This classy memoir reads like a Who's Who of 20th-century science [. . ] Reading Watson is a delight, an opportunity to breathe the rarefied air of his generation's greatest scientists and to crash a faculty cocktail party or two along the way. * Publisher's Weekly *
A priceless glimpse into the intellectual circle that nurtured [Watson's] revolutionary paradigm. * The New York Times Book Review *
Endorsement for A Passion for DNA by the same author: Jim Watson has elevated his unique combination of justified arrogance, scurrilous candour and disconcertingly mature wisdom into an art form. As one of the half dozen twentieth century scientists whose name will live into the fourth millennium he gets away with it, and the result is both edifying and hugely entertaining. * Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene *
Watson [ . . . ] is a good writer, with a fine sense of place and narrative * Brenda Maddox, The Literary Review *
An essential coda to The Double Helix. * The Boston Globe *
A priceless glimpse into the intellectual circle that nurtured [Watson's] revolutionary paradigm. * The New York Times Book Review *
Endorsement for A Passion for DNA by the same author: Jim Watson has elevated his unique combination of justified arrogance, scurrilous candour and disconcertingly mature wisdom into an art form. As one of the half dozen twentieth century scientists whose name will live into the fourth millennium he gets away with it, and the result is both edifying and hugely entertaining. * Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene *
Watson [ . . . ] is a good writer, with a fine sense of place and narrative * Brenda Maddox, The Literary Review *
An essential coda to The Double Helix. * The Boston Globe *
In 1953, while working at the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University, James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the double helical structure of DNA. For their discovery they, with Maurice Wilkins, were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Watson was appointed to the faculty at Harvard University in 1956. In 1968, while retaining his position at Harvard, he became director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL). In 1988 he was appointed as associate director of the National Institute of Health (NIH) to help launch the Human Genome Program. A year later he became the first director of the National Center for Human Genome Research at the NIH, a position he held until 1992. In 1994 Watson became president of CSHL, the position he holds today.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780198606932 |
| ISBN 10 | 0198606931 |
| Title | Genes, Girls and Gamow |
| Author | James D Watson |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Year published | 2003-05-22 |
| Number of pages | 304 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |