Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code (Eminent Lives) - Hardcover

Ridley, Matt

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 006082333X ISBN 13: 9780060823337

Publisher: Eminent Lives, 2006

Synopsis

Francis Crick, who died at the age of eighty-eight in 2004, will be bracketed with Galileo, Darwin, and Einstein as one of the great scientists of all time. Between 1953 and 1966 he made and led a revolution in biology by discovering, quite literally, the secret of life: the digital cipher at the heart of heredity that distinguishes living from non-living things--the genetic code. His own discoveries--though he always worked with one other partner and did much of his thinking in conversation--include not only the double helix but the whole mechanism of protein synthesis, the three-letter nature of the code, and much of the code itself. Matt Ridley's biography traces Crick's life from middle-class mediocrity in the English Midlands, through a lackluster education and six years designing magnetic mines for the Royal Navy, to his leap into biology at the age of thirty-one. While at Cambridge, he suddenly began to display the unique visual imagination and intense tenacity of...

About this title

Review:

‘In this excellent first biography of Francis Crick, who died in 2004, the suspense is terrific...authoritative...lucid...he captures Crick's audacity, brilliance and, not least, eloquence.’ Sunday Times

‘From the pages of this biography Crick emerges as a powerful, dominating figure who ruled seminars and parties with equal ease, and Ridley, an experienced science writer, with a neat turn of phrase and a proper appreciation of brevity can be satisfied he has done justice to his subject. His book has pace, concisenness and wit...the book is a delight.’ Observer

Praise for Matt Ridley:

‘What a superb writer he is, and he seems to get better and better.’ Richard Dawkins, author of ‘The Selfish Gene’

From the Back Cover:

Francis Crick--the quiet genius who led a revolution in biology by discovering, quite literally, the secret of life--will be bracketed with Galileo, Darwin, and Einstein as one of the greatest scientists of all time. In his fascinating biography of the scientific pioneer who uncovered the genetic code--the digital cipher at the heart of heredity that distinguishes living from non-living things--acclaimed bestselling science writer Matt Ridley traces Crick's life from middle-class mediocrity in the English Midlands through a lackluster education and six years designing magnetic mines for the Royal Navy to his leap into biology at the age of thirty-one and its astonishing consequences. In the process, Ridley sheds a brilliant light on the man who forever changed our world and how we understand it.

About this edition

• Publisher: Eminent Lives
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 006082333X
• ISBN 13: 9780060823337
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 213