Watson and DNA: Making a Scientific Revolution
Authors: Alan Emery
Journal: Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (2003)

On 25 April 1953 the proposed double helical structure of DNA was first published in Nature and thereafter referred to as the Watson–Crick model, so-named after the two authors. At the time many thought protein was the genetic material and not DNA and there was reluctance among some scientists to accept the model, in part because Watson and Crick had done no experimental work themselves but used the data of others, most notably those of Rosalind Franklin. When the model received its first convincing experimental confirmation in 1958, the way was open for Watson and Crick and their collaborator Maurice Wilkins to receive the Nobel Prize in 1962. Watson was still only 34. One is therefore reminded of a line from a W B Yeats poem ' “What then?” sang Plato's ghost “What then?” '.

After receiving the Nobel Prize Watson published his personal account of the DNA story in The Double Helix to a storm of comments and criticisms. One reviewer at the time described it as 'fresh, arrogant, catty, bratty and funny'. Although it had been rejected by the esteemed Harvard University Press, The Double Helix became, and remains, a best seller. This was 1968, the year he married and also became director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a post he held until 1993. Here he fostered much excellent research, particularly on human disease, recruited many young and active scientists and attracted much funding for the laboratory. It was largely through his effort and perseverance that recombinant DNA technology, or genetic engineering, and later the Human Genome Project became accepted. In regard to the latter he fiercely challenged those, such as Craig Venter and the head of NIH, Bernadine Healy, who wanted the project privately financed. The data would thus have been excluded from the public domain. Fortunately Watson's view prevailed and the project was successfully completed with public funding from both the US and the UK. Since 1993 Watson has continued to travel widely, lecturing on genetics. In 2002 he received an honorary British knighthood.

McElheny's book not only traces the history of the DNA story up to the Human Genome Project but also details the personalities of those involved, particularly of Watson himself and those of his colleagues and critics. Watson's forthright views on prenatal diagnosis, genetic screening, gene cloning and germ-line gene therapy have generated the kind of controversy on which he seems to thrive. The popular fears expressed in these areas, and recently on genetically modified foods, he rejects: 'You should never put off doing something useful for fear of evil that may never arrive'. I have met Watson twice (though he would never remember me) and have heard him lecture on several occasions, and found him eccentric, provocative and entertaining but above all intellectually stimulating. The book captures all these facets of his complex personality.

The story of DNA, excluding the more recent Human Genome Project, has been told several times previously, most notably by Crick (What Mad Pursuit), Olby (Path to the Double Helix) and Judson (The Eighth Day of Creation). In the past two years Watson has also published a collection of essays on the subject (A Passion for DNA) and his personal memoirs (Genes, Girls, and Gamov: After the Double Helix). Is there thus any need for this book? I think there is, since it brings the story up to date and also gives a very detailed analysis of the personalities, foibles and squabbles of those whom the author includes in the story (mainly Americans).

There have been fewer attempts to present a perspective of these events from outside the US. Crick himself admitted he did not need to seek publicity for himself because Watson could do it for both of them. Recently, however, John Sulston, another Nobel Laureate, has offered a British perspective in his The Common Thread: a Story of Science, Politics, Ethics and the Human Genome.

The story is one of the most fascinating in the history of science, in no small measure because of the personalities involved. No doubt the subject will continue to attract attention for years to come.