A Passion for DNA: Genes, Genomes, And Society ***Signed***

Watson, James D.

ISBN 10: 0879695811 / ISBN 13: 9780879695811

Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laborator, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 2000

About this Item

Inscribed "James D. Watson / 25 August 2000" on half title page in black ink. James D. Watson is best known for his discovery of the structure of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), for which he shared with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. They proposed that the DNA molecule takes the shape of a double helix, an elegantly simple structure that resembles a gently twisted ladder. The rails of the ladder are made of alternating units of phosphate and the sugar deoxyribose; the rungs are each composed of a pair of nitrogen- containing nucleotides. Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1928, Dr. Watson received a B.S. (1947) from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. (1950) from Indiana University, both in zoology. Following a National Research Fellowship in Copenhagen and a National Foundation of Infantile Paralysis Fellowship at the University of Cambridge, England, he spent two years at the California Institute of Technology. He jointed the Harvard faculty in 1 955 and became Professor in 1961, resigning in 1976 to become full-time director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory . In 1988 he was appointed Associate Director for Human Genome Research of the National Institutes of Health. In 1989 he was appointed Director of the National Center for Human Genome Research at the NIH. In 1992, Dr. Watson resigned his position at NCHGR after successfully launching a worldwide effort to map and sequence the human genome.

Seller Inventory # 002098

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Passion for DNA: Genes, Genomes, And Society ***Signed***
• Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laborator, Cold Spring Harbor, NY
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0879695811
• ISBN 13: 9780879695811
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Printing
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: As New
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

A principal architect and visionary of the new biology, a Nobel Prize-winner at 34 and best-selling author at 40 (The Double Helix), James D. Watson had the authority, flair, and courage to take an early and prominent role as commentator on the march of DNA science and its implications for society. In essays for publications large and small, and in lectures around the world, he delivered what were, in effect, dispatches from the front lines of the revolution. Outspoken and sparkling with ideas and opinions, a selection of them is collected for the first time in this volume. Their resonance with today's headlines is striking.

Review

A Passion for DNA: Genes, Genomes and Society is a collection o f essays by James D Watson, the American co-discoverer of the structure of DNA and one of the most famous scientists alive. When his groundbreaking work on the molecular blueprint of life was done in 1953, Watson was still only 25 years old and was working in the University of Cambridge with the English scientist Francis Crick. So important was their work, that both Crick and Watson were awarded the Nobel prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1962. Three years later, as a professor at Harvard, Watson wrote a seminal text book on Molecular Biology of the Gene. Then, in 1968, his runaway bestseller The Double Helix--the behind-the-scenes version of how Crick and he had worked together to crack the problem of DNA structure--soon became the most-read popular science book ever. Brilliantly written, the book raised many hackles in the scientific world, especially in the rather conservative and secretive world of British science at the time.

Now some 32 years later, both men are senior citizens, but both are still active scientists in different ways. Watson tells how his career path "moved from a doer of science to my later roles as a manager of science...and occasional governmental advisor or bureaucrat". Designed for the general reader, the essays address what Watson regards as the big issues of the day: the War on Cancer, the arrival of Recombinant DNA procedures, the Human Genome Project, and GM foods, plus autobiographical sketches. Jim Watson's subsequent role as a statesman for science might seem an unlikely one for such a mercurial character but as these essays show, he has lost none of his magical touch with words and is never afraid to speak his mind, no matter how non-pc the result might be. As he says "moving forward will not be for the faint of heart".--Douglas Palmer