Dear group,
Perhaps it would be best simply to ignore all
references to James Watson, but I can't help pointing
out that the celebrity he earned by his remarkable
work on DNA has been tarnished by dozens of dubious
actions and statements, particularly those that
concern the work of Rosalind Franklin and the
intelligence of Africans.
Yours very truly,
Sam Gilbert
---------------------
Message: 5
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:16:21 -0400
From: "J.E. Shields" <jshields104@insightbb.com>
Subject: [pbs] Genetics 101: Interview with Jim
Watson
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID:
<5.1.0.14.2.20071016121358.026f1fe8@mail.insightbb.com>
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Hi all,
Since we have been talking about genetics and DNA, is
might be apropos
to
mention here a very nice interview with Dr. James D.
Watson, Nobel
laureate, who with Francis Crick discovered the double
helix of DNA.
You
can find it at:
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/profile/…
I only met Jim Watson one time, around 1959 or 1960,
when he tagged
along
with Francis Crick to the University of California
Berkeley to give a
series of lectures. I was a grad student there at the
time, and Jim
Watson
had time to kill will Crick made the rounds of the big
shots'
laboratories.
Jim dropped by our lab, and my professor introduced
us, as two Hoosiers
far
away from home (Watson had gone to college in Indiana,
making him sort
of a
Hoosier too). He was indeed a callow youth back then,
only 6 years my
senior; he was very modest and almost shy.
Crick on the other hand on that visit to Cal gave some
of the most
fascinating and flamboyant lectures I've ever heard in
a scientific
setting! Crick had an extraordinary way with words,
very articulate.
They
had to move his talks to the largest auditorium on the
Cal campus, and
even
then there was an overflow audience -- and this was at
Berkeley, where
Nobel prize winners were lurking just around many
corners.
Jim Watson is a famous scientist with modest roots and
an unfailing
ability
to speak plainly and simply, telling the actual truth.
You won't find
that
very often in anyone, famous or not, scientist or not.
Best wishes,
Jim Shields (Hoosier)
in central Indiana (USA)
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