Inspiring Science: Jim Watson And The Age Of Dna

Description:
For James D. Watson, the year 2003 was momentous: The 50th anniversary of the discovery, with Francis Crick, of the DNA double helix; the 35th anniversary of the publication of his best-selling memoir of the discovery, The Double Helix; the 35th anniversary of his appointment as Director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, an institution he molded into a research and education center of international renown and prestige: and the year in which the sequencing of the human genome was completed, a project of unprecedented international effort and coordination that Watson got off the ground and sustained during its first, critical years. In the course of his 75 years, Watson has achieved a reputation as outspoken, capricious, abrasive, and ruthless in pursuing his visionary goals. Few other scientists have achieved his celebrity status, or enjoyed it so much, without losing professional credibility. Yet behind the public notoriety there is a complexity apparent only to those who know Watson as a colleague, mentor, inspiration, and friend. This book gives voice to 43 of these individuals-people of distinction who have worked with Watson as a scientist, educator, author, administrator, and government official. Their essays cover much of his scientific life and, taken together, create a portrait of a complex man whose originality and force of will have produced extraordinary achievements.

Review:
That the volume is such a good read probably reflects the capabilities of Watson's friends as well as the efforts of the three editors. From the excellent foreword by Matt Ridley to the final explanatory notes on puzzling details (including descriptions of quiz kids, Delbr fc;ck's principle of limited sloppiness, and Benzer's lunchtime diet of crocodile tail), Inspiring Science is a delight, a ride in a convertible through history. The editors deserve accolades for their excellent selections and documentation. Watson himself deserves credit for doing such important work with such panache. Science The purpose of Inspiring Science, the editors write, 'is not to reconstruct an academic history or an authoritative biography, but to record friendship and appreciation.' ... The editors are to be congratulated on compiling and organizing such a readable and informative set of recollections that will serve very effectively the role they intended. Nature History-making scientist of international fame, successful manager of one of the best biological think-tanks, standard-setting textbook author, popularizer and public advocate of science, government advisor: Jim of all trades be his nom de guerre. Inspiring Science brings us closer to a seemingly larger-than-life man whose long shadow will be cast far into the twenty-first century. Without him, someone else would sooner or later have solved the mystery that half a century ago surrounded DNA. But there is no doubt that Watson had a profound effect on the development of molecular biology in the second half of the twentieth century. He is one of the truly powerful puppeteers of the scientific world, pulling the strings on which the rest of us dangle and dance. Inspiring Science reveals that behind the awe-inspiring public image is a human being with the usual set of strengths and weaknesses, qualifications and shortcomings. Inspiring Science will be not so much remembered for its literary accomplishments as it will be cherished by historians and psychologists as a precious time capsule laying bare the mechanics of science at the end of the twentieth century. Inspiring Science is inspiring reading. Nature Medicine

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments Foreword, by Matt Ridley James D. Watson's Life and Work: A Timeline Section I-ORIGINS Introduction: Student Days Phage Days in Indiana, Renato Dulbecco Quiz Kids, Gunther S. Stent Some Early Recollections of Jim Watson, Seymour Benzer REPRINT: The Properties of X-ray-inactivated Bacteriophage. I. Inactivation by Direct Effect, James Dewey Watson Section II-CAMBRIDGE Introduction: Talking and Thinking Jim's Cool Reception among the British Geneticists, Avrion Mitchison Recollections of Jim Watson, Naomi Mitchison Our Work on Virus Structure, Francis H.C. Crick One Day in the Cavendish (April 1, 1953), Gerald Roland Pomerat Jim and Syd, Sydney Brenner A Letter to Jim, January 14, 2002, Max F. Perutz Monday Morning Quarterback, Elof Carlson The Night before Crickmas, Rollin Hotchkiss REPRINT: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid, J.D. Watson and F.H.C. Crick REPRINT: Genetical Implications of the Structure of Dexoyribonucelic Acid, J.D. Watson and F.H.C. Crick REPRINT: The Complementary Structure of Dexoyribonucleic Acid, F.H.C. Crick and J.D. Watson 1953 SYMPOSIUM Introduction: A Day in June Memories of the 1953 Symposium, Robert L. Sinsheimer, Julius Marmur, Charles Yanofsky, Louis Siminovitch, Frank Fenner, Roy J. Britten, Howard Green, Theodore T. Puck, Waclaw Szybalski, Joseph S. Gots, Hillary Koprowski Symposium on Viruses, The Long-Islander Article Letter to Max Delbr fc;ck, James D. Watson REPRINT: The Structure of DNA, J.D. Watson and F.H.C. Crick Nobel Banquet Speech, James D. Watson Section III-CAREER SCIENTIST Introduction: Caltech, Cambridge, and Harvard Remembering Delbr fc;ck, James D. Watson Does RNA Form a Double Helix?, Alexander Rich Flowers and Phage, Joan Steitz On the Edge: My Time in Jim Watson's Lab, Benno M fc;ller-Hill When Ribosomes Were King, Alfred Tissi e8;res It Smells Right..., Lionel V. Crawford Excerpt from Naturalist, Edward O. Wilson Growing Up Around Jim, Jeffrey H. Miller Seems Simple, Very Hard to Do, Mark Ptashne Watson at Harvard (1956-1976), Paul Doty REPRINT: Structure of Small Viruses, F.H.C. Crick and J.D. Watson REPRINT: Unstable Ribonucleic Acid Revealed by Pulse Labelling of Escherichia coli, F. Gros, H. Hiatt, W. Gilbert, C.G. Kurland, R.W. Risebrough, and J.D. Watson Section IV-COLD SPRING HARBOR Introduction: An Emotional Attachment Cold Spring Harbor 1958-1968: The Years between Demerec and Watson, John Cairns Life with Jim, Norton D. Zinder CSHL in the Sixties: A View from the Trenches, Ann Skalka REPRINT: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Director's Report, 1989, James D. Watson Jim as a Mentor, 1971-1974, Philip A. Sharp From Development of Yeast Cells to Human Brain Hemispheres, Amar J.S. Klar Big Shoes to Fill, with the Laces Untied, Bruce Stillman Just Jim, Michael Wigler Milestones and Mentoring: How Jim Watson Influenced a Scientific Career, Douglas Hanahan CSHL in Transition, Raymond F. Gesteland Cold Spring Harbor and Recombinant DNA, Thomas Maniatis REPRINT: Origin of Concatemeric T7 DNA, J.D. Watson Jim and the Board: Behind the Scenes, Bayard Clarkson Vision, Innovation, Breadth, and Strength, David L. Luke III Portraits: Robertson, Pulling, and Grace, James D. Watson A Morning on the Porch, Jim Eisenman An Architect at the Lab: Some Personal Recollections, William Grover Section V-GENOMES Introduction: Managing the Genome Dr. Watson Goes to Washington, Bradie Metheny Jim Watson and the Human Genome Project, James B. Wyngaarden The Colossus of Codes, Robert Cook-Deegan Jim and the Japanese Human Genome Project, Kenichi Matsubara Climbing the Ladder of Life: James D. Watson and the ELSI Years, Nancy Wexler Section VI-EDUCATION Introduction: Communicating Science The Pied Piper at Harvard, David Botstein There Is More Yet to Come, Arnold J. Levine What I Have Learned from Jim, Bruce M. Alberts On Drawing Molecules, Keith Roberts Education by the Sea Shore, Jan Witkowski and John Inglis Endnotes Bibliography-James D. Watson Index