Gosling Watson (3 results)

Hardcover. Condition: UsedGood. Hardcover; surplus library copy with the usual stampings; light edge wear, light scuffing to cover; reference number taped to spine; otherwise in good condition with clean text, tight binding.

First Edition. Offprint, 8vo (210 x 140mm), pp. 14, with two diagrams (including the double helix) and two illustrations from photographs. The three-paper offprint issue, of the primary record of the co-discovery of the molecular structure of DNA, the most transformative moment in twentieth-century biology. Stapled in self-wrappers as issued. Signed by Maurice Wilkins on the first page. Very lightly toned and a coulpe soft creases, near fine. Grolier Club, One Hundred Books Famous in Medicine, 99; Dibner, Heralds of Science, 200. Garrison-Morton 256.3; Judson, Eighth Day of Creation, pp. 145-56. Ex-Dr. Myron Printzmetal. The discovery of DNA's double helix structure emerged from an intense period of competitive collaboration between research teams at Cambridge and King's College London. Watson and Crick's theoretical breakthrough synthesized crucial experimental evidence from multiple sources: Erwin Chargaff's base composition rules demonstrating the 1:1 ratio of adenine to thymine and guanine to cytosine, X-ray crystallographic data revealing DNA's helical structure, and most critically, the precise measurements of backbone positioning and molecular dimensions. Their elegant model proposed complementary base pairing (A-T and C-G) held together by hydrogen bonds, immediately suggesting a mechanism for genetic replication where each strand could serve as a template for its complement. The accompanying papers by Wilkins, Stokes, and Wilson, and by Franklin and Gosling, provided essential experimental validation through X-ray diffraction analysis, creating a unified presentation of both theoretical insight and empirical evidence that established the foundation of molecular biology. The contentious history surrounding this discovery has generated enduring scholarly debate, particularly regarding the systematic marginalization of Rosalind Franklin's contributions. Franklin's meticulous X-ray crystallographic work, conducted with her graduate student Raymond Gosling, had independently determined many key structural features including the antiparallel orientation of DNA strands, the external positioning of phosphate groups, and precise helical parameters. Her famous "Photograph 51" provided definitive evidence of DNA's helical structure, while her systematic analysis of A-form and B-form DNA revealed critical dimensions that enabled Watson and Crick's model construction. As Brenda Maddox documents in "Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA," Franklin's data was shown to Watson and Crick without her knowledge through Maurice Wilkins, creating an ethical controversy that persists in discussions of scientific collaboration and gender bias. Franklin's death from ovarian cancer in 1958, four years before the Nobel Prize was awarded to Watson, Crick, and Wilkins, has intensified debates about recognition and the complex dynamics of mid-twentieth century scientific discovery, with many scholars arguing that her rigorous experimental approach was as fundamental to the breakthrough as the theoretical modeling that received greater acclaim. This publication represents the founding document of modern molecular biology, establishing the conceptual framework for understanding heredity, genetic replication, and the molecular basis of life itself. The discovery immediately suggested mechanisms for protein synthesis and genetic information transfer, creating the theoretical foundation for subsequent developments in genetic engineering, biotechnology, and genomic medicine. As Francis Crick later observed, the structure's elegant simplicitywith its complementary base pairing and antiparallel strandsprovided not merely a static model but a dynamic mechanism explaining how genetic information could be accurately copied and transmitted across generations. The offprint's scientific significance extends far beyond its immediate discovery, representing the moment when biology transformed from a primarily descriptive science into a molecular discipline capable of manipu.…

A VERY FINE SET OF THE DNA PAPERS. First edition, in the form in which they first appeared, of six crucial papers documenting the discovery of the structure of DNA and the mechanism of the genetic code. The first is Watson & Crick's paper 'Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid', which "records the discovery of the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the main component of chromosomes and the material that transfers genetic characteristics in all life forms. Publication of this paper initiated the science of molecular biology. Forty years after Watson and Crick's discovery, so much of the basic understanding of medicine and disease has advanced to the molecular level that their paper may be considered the most significant single contribution to biology and medicine in the twentieth century" (One Hundred Books Famous in Medicine, p. 362). Watson & Crick's paper is here accompanied by their paper published one month later, 'Genetical Implications of the Structure of Deoxyribonucleic Acid,' "in which they elaborated on their proposed DNA replication mechanism" (ibid.), together with one of the papers which provided the experimental data confirming their proposed structure, a follow up to 'Molecular Structure of Deoxypentose Nucleic Acids' by Wilkins et al. Also included is the 1961 paper 'General Nature of the Genetic Code for Proteins,' documenting Crick's team's efforts to crack the genetic code, amassing evidence suggesting that "the amino-acid sequence along the polypeptide chain of a protein is determined by the sequence of the bases along some particular part of the nucleic acid of the genetic material" (p. 1227), and that each acid was most likely coded by a group of three bases. In 1962, Watson, Crick, and Wilkins shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material." The first three papers were issued together in offprint from, but the journal issue offered here preceded the offprint and is actually rarer on the market. DNA was first isolated by the Swiss physician Friedrich Miescher in 1869, and over the succeeding years many researchers investigated its structure and function, with some arguing that it may be involved in genetic inheritance. By the early 1950s this had become one of the most important questions in biology. Maurice Wilkins of King's College London and his colleague Rosalind Franklin were both working on DNA, with Franklin producing X-ray diffraction images of its structure. Wilkins also introduced his friend Francis Crick to the subject, and Crick and his partner James Watson began their own investigation at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, focusing on building molecular models. After one failed attempt in which they postulated a triple-helix structure, they were banned by the Cavendish from spending any additional time on the subject. But a year later, after seeing new X-ray diffraction images taken by Franklin (notably the famous 'Photo 51', which is reproduced in the third offered paper), they resumed their work and soon announced that not only had they discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, but even more importantly, that "the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material." When Watson and Crick's paper was submitted for publication in Nature, Sir Lawrence Bragg, the director of the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge, and Sir John Randall of King's College agreed that the paper should be published simultaneously with those of two other groups of researches who had also prepared important papers on DNA: Maurice Wilkins, A.R. Stokes, and H.R. Wilson, authors of 'Molecular Structure of Deoxypentose Nucleic Acids,' and Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling, who submitted the paper 'Molecular Configuration in Sodium Thymonucleate.' The three papers were published in Nature under the general title 'The Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids.' "Five weeks after Watson's and Crick's first paper in Nature, their second appeared, in which, after explaining the structure and the evidence all over again, they pursued some of the genetical implications. These flowed from the most novel, most fundamental fact of the model: "Any sequence of the pairs of the bases can fit into the structure. It follows that in a long molecule many different permutations are possible, and it therefore seems likely that the precise sequence of the bases is the code which carries the genetical information. If the actual order of the bases on one of the pair of chains were given, one could write down the exact order of the bases on the other one, because of the specific pairing." This immediately suggested, they said, how DNA duplicated itself. "Previous discussions of self-duplication have usually involved the concept of a template, or mould. Either the template was supposed to copy itself directly or it was to produce a "negative", which in its turn was to act as a template and produce the original "positive" once again. In no case has it been explained in detail how it would do this in terms of atoms and molecules." The elucidation of the structure of DNA called for a new kind of functional explanation. "Now our model for deoxyribonucleic acid is, in effect, a pair of templates, each of which is complementary to the other. We imagine that prior to duplication the hydrogen bonds [connecting the bases in pairs] are broken, and the two chains unwind and separate. Each chain then acts as a template for the formation on to itself of a new companion chain, so that eventually we shall have two pairs of chains, where we only had one before. Moreover, the sequence of the pairs of bases will have been duplicated exactly." Yet perhaps not always exactly: the model, or rather the mistake whose correction by Donohue had cleared the way for the m.…