![]() ![]() They had ushered in a new era of molecular biology, with an insight that was profound. The title refers to their momentous discovery in 1953 of the structure of the molecule in our cells that forms our genes, a twisting pair of strands of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) that has been unravelling to replicate itself since the dawn of life some four billion years ago. Watson’s braggart book, published in February 1968, underlines how the process of science is challenged by human foibles, an unsettling message that has even more resonance today as research undergoes a replication crisis, with the realisation that the findings of many scientific studies are difficult if not impossible to reproduce. ![]() ![]() One of the greatest nonfiction books, his memoir provides candid insights into one of the most momentous discoveries of the 20th century, also revealing the scientific quest for the truth as being subjective and messy, a knotty combination of both the collegiate and competitive. Half a century after the publication of The Double Helix, Roger Highfield looks at why the book is still relevant today.įifty years after publication shockwaves are still being sent out by Jim Watson’s notorious first-hand account of ‘perhaps the most famous event in biology since Darwin’s book’. ![]()
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