April 2021 – Page 2 – Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev.

The story of the discovery of DNA is very intriguing. In my opinion, it’s the biggest breakthrough of humanity overall, along with genome editing and CRISPR (discovery of antibiotics would come next, but that’s not the current subject). So, James Watson and Francis Crick, as is well-known, were behind the DNA double helix discovery. Effectively, these guys took their place between Einstein and Newton in terms of importance and impact, which was recognized by the Nobel Committee in 1962.

Then, 15 years ago, Watson ventured into the touchy subject of racial inequality. His words “All our social policy is based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours. Though all studies show that it’s not the case” shocked the scientific community. He immediately became a controversial figure and was soon ostracized from many circles he had been part of for decades.

Later he nearly apologized (“I couldn’t have said such a thing”), but for another documentary on PBS, he reverted to his previous stance: “There is a certain difference between whites and blacks when you look at IQ tests. I would say that the difference is genetic.” He also touched on justifying antisemitism and made additional sexist comments about women being less efficient and not really understanding mathematics. For instance, at a forum in Dublin he said, “I think when there are many women around, men have much more fun, only, perhaps, they start working worse.”

Well, many things could be attributed to Alzheimer’s in his advanced years (he is now 93).

So, he was ostracized everywhere and Watson decided to sell his Nobel medal at an auction to raise some money “for science.” He also mentioned he’d like to buy a painting by David Hockney. The medal was auctioned and was bought by Alisher Usmanov for $4 million. Somehow I missed that at the time.

Afterward, Usmanov invited Watson to Moscow, where he delivered a lecture at the Academy of Sciences in his 90s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciegWByNyPg Interesting to listen to, I’ve bookmarked it. The translation there is silly, and I couldn’t find it in English.

It was particularly interesting to read about his discovery, for which he actually received the Nobel. Their discovery was based on data collected by other scientists. These others are also credited as pioneers, but they couldn’t quite bring the topic to a conclusion. Particularly, some of the most crucial hints for DNA structure came from Rosalind Franklin, a female biochemist working in physicist Maurice Wilkins’ lab. Her x-ray diffraction photographs gave Watson and Crick clues about the actual structure of DNA. An important role in this discovery was played by the famous “Photograph 51”—an amazingly clear x-ray diffraction image of DNA, created by Franklin and her graduate student. Upon seeing the diffraction pattern in Franklin’s photo, Watson immediately hypothesized that the DNA molecule has a double-helix structure and published about it.

So, these data Watson and Crick quietly took from Franklin. Well, not formally stolen, since neither the image nor the report was confidential, but how else to call the taking of data without permission and without further reference to the source. By 1962, when they received the Nobel, Franklin had been dead for four years, and as is well-known, Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously. She likely died from cancer, almost certainly provoked by her constant exposure to X-ray radiation she dealt with.

Until 1948, women were not awarded degrees. Therefore, Cambridge graduate Rosalind Franklin could not claim career growth, and apparently, Watson and Crick didn’t really consider her a serious scientist. For example, Watson in his book “The Double Helix” describes her as “not very bright, reclusive, naturally unsociable woman and—what seemed especially to irk him—as almost provocatively unattractive. He allowed that she ‘was not unattractive and might have appeared quite stunning had she taken the slightest interest in clothes,’ but here she displayed no hopes at all. She did not even wear lipstick, he marveled, though in clothes she ‘fully demonstrated the taste typical of English prudish ‘blue stockings'” – this I quote from Bill Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything.” A good book, read it (https://batrachos.com/sites/default/files/pictures/Books/Brayson_2013_Kratkaya%20istoriya%20pochti%20vsego%20na%20svete.pdf). He also writes that in 1968, the publisher “Harvard University Press” refused to print “The Double Helix” after Crick and Wilkins expressed displeasure about the descriptions of the people mentioned, which Eliza Jarden called “unjustifiably offensive.” The above descriptions are given in terms used by Watson after he softened his remarks.”