Francis Crick: Hunter of Life’s Secrets

This engrossing biography by one of molecular biology’s foremost scholars reveals the remarkable evolution of Francis Crick’s scientific career and the shaping of his personality. From unpromising beginnings, he became a vital contributor to a remarkably creative period in science. Olby chronicles Crick’s life from his early studies in biophysics, to the discovery of the structure of DNA, to his later work in neuroscience and the nature of consciousness. This account is woven together with insights into his personal life gained through access to Crick’s papers, family, and friends. Robert Olby’s book is a richly detailed portrait of one of the great scientists of our time.

Experimental Heart: A Novel

“[Experimental Heart] realistically and humorously portrays the inner workings of a biology research lab, relations between the scientific community and the public, and the highs and lows of research life...Rohn spins a riveting thriller — replete with scientific discovery, fraud, falsified reagents, romantic darkroom encounters, threats, and even abduction — as Andy searches for personal and scientific fulfillment.”

Life Illuminated: Selected Papers from CSH, Volume 2, 1972-1994

“Perhaps most importantly, this is a volume about life at Cold Spring Harbor. Very few pages pass without a mention of some word or deed by James Watson and the presence of Barbara McClintock is felt throughout the book. There are fascinating descriptions of Watson making his nightly rounds of the research laboratories, and of him wryly reminding a postdoctoral researcher caught building a model of DNA: ‘[t]hat’s been done’. Tim Tully tells an interesting tale of Watson’s willingness to support a long and often frustrating assault on the biology of memory.

In an early chapter, Bruce Alberts reminds us that ‘cells are much smarter than scientists’. True enough, but the denizens of CSHL in the 1970s and 1980s were (and still are) rapidly closing the gap.”

The Genome of Homo sapiens
(CSH Symposium, Vol. LXVIII, 2003)

For this Symposium topic, we turned to another achievement that, even two years in advance, could be seen as the most significant milestone in biological science since the discovery of the double helix: the completion of the sequence of the human genome. Begun formally in 1990, with Jim Watson as its first director, the federally funded effort to map and sequence the entire human DNA molecule had resulted in the publication of a draft sequence in 2001. The predicted availability of the complete sequence in the first half of 2003 provided the ideal backdrop to a Symposium that focused not just on the details of the sequence, but on the power of information it contains to transform scientific investigations into fundamental biological processes and the causes of human disease. (read more)

Hundreds of important advances in biology were announced, debated, and distilled at the Cold Spring Harbor Symposia. These meetings, held each year on the tranquil grounds of one of the world’s leading research institutes, have been notable events in biomedical research since 1933. Now this essential archive, dating from 1933 to 2003, is available online. Among highly influential volumes is the 2003 meeting “The Genome of Homo sapiens” (Vol. LXVIII), above is an excerpt from the exclusive new online introduction to this volume. (read more)