The Double Helix - Cover Sheet

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Author - John Shepherd - Summer 1998

Case Purpose The Double Helix is a classic of the history of modern science. It is James Watrson's very readable and personal narrative of the discovery of the structure of DNA in the early 1950s. I think the story works well in this course from several perspectives. First, it introduces scientific discovery from a personal and biographical point of view. The daily life of a scientist has a personal face. Second, it is a good account of the mixture of logic, trial and error, and insight that make discovery possible. Third, it lays out the social and personal motivations that fuel scientific advance. Fourth, it contrasts the role of theoreticians (Watson & Crick) with the work of experimental scientists (Wilkins & Franklin). Lastly, it shows the fit between personality and scientific style.

Relation to Texts This case reinforces the ideas in Chapter 5 of Ziman (ISS) which discuss the nature of recognition reward systems. The DNA people in the US and England are a good example of an 'invisible college' (Ziman, ISS, 5.4). TDH dwells mostly on the 'cognitive context' (Ziman, ISS, 7.1, p 92), but serves as a good example of one kind of change. This is not a good example of a Kuhnian revolution (Ziman, ISS, 7.3), but instead represents colonization of intellectual territory (Ziman, ISS, 7.4, p 97). Watson & Crick were both adventurous in their attempts at consensus-building, first within the Cavendish Lab, then with the King's College London (Ziman, ISS, 8.4, 8.5).

Description of Case Materials

Any introductory Biology text contains a description of the now widely known structure. The Norton Critical Edition listed below contains 1) Watson's 130 page narrative, 2) Stent's Introduction (useful for you but not the students), 3) reviews of TDH from a variety of sources together with Stent's analysis (these are an excellent source of interpretive material), 4) a collection of the original papers that resulted from this work (I thought these were over the heads of the students.)

Reference List

James D. Watson. 1968. The Double Helix. WW Norton. A Norton Critical Edition. Gunther Stent, Editor ISBN 0-393-95075-1