Unravelling the Double Helix

by Gareth Williams

  275a cheery postcard: From Ray Gosling to MHFW, 4 Sept 1950. In Wilkins Papers, K/PP178/3/12.

  275The first paper from King’s about DNA: Wilkins M.H.F., Gosling R.G., Seeds W.E. Physical studies of nucleic acid: Nucleic acid – an extensible molecule? Nature 1951; 167:759–60.

  276‘carried along on a wave’: Wilkins 1987, p. 516.

  276let their hair down: Ibid, pp. 516–8; Wilkins 2003, pp. 101–2.

  276‘inextricably intertwined’: Wilkins 1987, p. 517.

  276They fell out again: Wilkins 2003, pp. 93, 103.

  276‘I admired and respected him’: Ibid, 103, 105–6; MHFW quoted in Maddox, p. 133.

  276It was only years later: MHFW was going through the papers which JTR had left for whomever the Royal Society invited to write his Biographical Memoir (obituary) – which was Wilkins. Wilkins 2003, pp.104–5.

  277‘trying hard to find someone to marry’: Ibid, pp. 112–3, 120.

  277In December 1950: Ibid, pp. 127–8, 147–8.

  277Randall’s portentous letter: Ibid, pp. 147–8. A facsimile of the letter is available at: https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/ResourceMetadata/KRBBBB.

  278thirty years old: Maddox, pp. 26–45.

  278Her father was a banker: Ibid, pp. 35–7.

  279The high points of her first year: Ibid, pp. 46, 47, 52–3.

  279The family’s summer holiday: Ibid, p. 54.

  279The second year: Ibid, pp. 54–8, 62–5.

  279the Frenchwoman Adrienne Weill: Ibid, pp. 66, 73–5.

  279‘ashamed to be women’: Ibid, p. 96.

  279She blamed a head cold: Ibid, pp. 67–9.

  279‘an autocratic bully’: Ibid, p. 70. The ‘darker side’ of Norrish’s ‘square-rigged’ character is described, most likely with euphemism, in Dainton F., Thrush B.A. Ronald George Wreyford Norrish. Biographical Mems Fell Roy Soc 1981; 27:408–10.

  279‘stupid, bigoted, deceitful’: Maddox, p. 72.

  280‘Miles from anything’: Ibid, p. 77.

  280produced a solid PhD thesis: Franklin R.E.. The physical chemistry of solid organic colloids with special reference to coal and related materials. PhD thesis, Univ Cambridge, 1945.

  280‘very little about physical chemistry’: Maddox, p. 83.

  280Weill’s contact was greatly impressed: Ibid, p. 85.

  280director of a twenty-strong group: Ibid, pp. 87–8.

  280‘whole days and on into the evenings’: Ibid, p. 96.

  280many things that England lacked: Ibid, pp. 90–104.

  281a classic Gallic charmer: Ibid, p. 96.

  281It has been claimed: Ibid, pp. 85, 96, 102–3. Less sensationally, REF’s friend Anne Sayre viewed the relationship as ‘rather paternal’ from Mering and ‘respectful affection’ from her (Sayre, p. 69). Jenifer Glynn, REF’s sister, concurs: ‘It is wrong to read any more than that into their relationship.’ (Glynn, p. 82).

  281she applied to join Bernal’s group: Maddox, pp. 105, 106, 110.

  281‘Half of me is hoping’: Ibid, pp. 110–1.

  282She accepted the post: Ibid, pp. 111, 113.

  282she sent Randall a long letter: Ibid, p. 114.

  282On 4 December, Randall wrote back: Ibid, pp. 114–5. A facsimile of the letter is available at: https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/ResourceMetadata/KRBBBB.

  Chapter 21: Team building

  JTR = John Randall; MHFW = Maurice Wilkins; REF = Rosalind Franklin; WTA = Bill Astbury.

  284Randall called her in: Maddox, pp. 128–9.

  284an extended New Year holiday: Wilkins 2003, p. 128.

  284The consensus was: ‘very attractive’: Maddox, p. 129.

  284‘quite impossible to construct’: Letter from Bruce Fraser to MHFW, 27 May 1999. Wilkins Papers, K/PP178/3/10.

  284easy to work with: Maddox, pp. 126–7, 129.

  285His first impression: Wilkins 2003, p. 130

  285significant things in common: Ibid, p. 132; Maddox, p. 135.

  285they ate Saturday lunch together: Wilkins 2003, p. 132.

  285Randall delivered a lecture: Randall J.T. An experiment in biophysics. Proc Roy Soc A 1951; 208:25–42.

  286Founded in 1872: from notes which MHFW prepared for a speech on 13 March 1980 to mark the centenary of the birth of Reinhard Dohrn, founder of the Stazione. Wilkins Papers, K/PP178/8/3/6.

  286he was knocked sideways by the loveliness of it all: Wilkins 2003, pp. 136–7, 139.

  286Wilkins’s talk went down very well: Ibid, pp. 137–8. Wilkins M.H.F. Ultraviolet diochroism and molecular structure in living cells. Pubbl Staz Zool Napoli 1951; 23 (suppl):104–14.

  286‘a little speech’: letter from MHFW to JTR, 31 May 1951. Wilkins Papers, K/PP178/3/35/3.

  287Astbury recited his on the spot: Ibid.

  287a letter to Randall: letter from MHFW to JTR, 31 May 1951. Ibid.

  287rapid and terse reply: letter from JTR to MHFW, 5 June 1951. Ibid.

  287Rosalind Franklin was also working hard: Maddox, pp. 130–1, 135. Her first paper, communicated by JTR: Franklin R.E. Crystallite growth in graphitising and non-graphitising carbons. Proc Roy Soc B 1951; 209:196–218.

  288the handiwork of Elwyn Beighton: Hall, pp. 144–5, 151.

  288he wrote to Chargaff: Hall, pp. 143–5. Letter from WTA to Erwin Chargaff, 14 March 1951; reply from Chargaff to WTA, 19 March 1951. Both in Astbury Papers, MS419, Box E28.

  289Beighton mounted DNA fibres: Hall, pp. 145–7.

  289in December 1951: ‘Rough print of wheat germ DNA, 11 Dec 1951’. Astbury Papers, MS419, Box C7.

  290Astbury did not know what to make of them: Hall, pp. 147–8, 151–2. 290 his new passion, bacterial flagella: Astbury found these ‘so exciting that I could not sleep’; letter from WTA to Warren Weaver, Rockefeller Inst, 25 May 1948. Astbury Papers, MS419, Box 1153.

  290Wilkins described the fate: MHFW notes, 25 March 1976. Wilkins Papers, K/PP178/8/2/1.

  290shared a cabin: Maddox, p. 147.

  290The congress attracted 350 scientists: International Union of Crystallography. Second General Assembly and International Congress, Stockholm, 1951. Acta Cryst 1951; 4:567–74.

  291The star of the show: see the apologetic letter from Linus Pauling to Arne Tiselius, 7 May 1951, explaining his absence. Pauling Papers, MMBBBZ.

  291He submitted the paper: Pauling, Corey & Branson.

  291a string of seven papers: see Eisenberg, and pp. 235–285 of PNAS, May 1951.

  291a leading Soviet sympathiser: Eisenberg, p. 11210.

  291twisted the knife: Judson, p. 86.

  291–2 ‘the biggest mistake in my career’: Judson, p. 86; Phillips, p. 120.

  292Perutz was also furious: Blow, pp. 237–8.

  292automatic calculating machines: Symposium on Computing Aids, IUCR Congress programme (above), p. 572.

  292an English physicist: Marsh R.E., Shoemaker D.P. Obituary. Arthur Lindo Patterson, 1902–1966. Acta Crystallographica 1967; 22:749–50.

  292The ‘Patterson function’: Patterson A.L. A Fourier series method for the determination of the components of interatomic distances in crystals. Phys Rev 1934; 46:372–376.

  292its potential weakness: Olby 1974, pp. 264–5.

  292Bragg’s eventual verdict: Ibid, p. 265.

  293his second meeting: Wilkins 2003, pp. 141–2.

  293again showed the photograph: Ibid, pp. 142–3.

  293had a hunch: Ibid, pp. 140–1.

  293Wilkins felt moved: Ibid, pp. 141–2.

  294Franklin said nothing: Ibid, pp. 142–3.

  294‘shocked and upset’: Ibid, p. 143.

  294‘Now she’s trying to drown me’: Maddox, p. 150.

  294he asked Alec Stokes: Wilkins 2003, pp. 160–1; Olby 1974, pp. 341–2.

  294the distance from the Sun to another star: The star in question was 61 Cygnus; William Herschel described Bessel’s estimation of the distance as ‘a discovery of first-rate importance’. Herschel J.F.W. A Brief Notice of the Life, Researches, and Discoveries o
f Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel. London: Barclay, 1847.

  295The ‘Bessel function’: the mathematically courageous might like to consult Watson G.W. A Treatise on the Theory of Bessel Function. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni Press, 1995.

  295‘Waves at Bessel-on-Sea’: Wilkins 2003, p. 160.

  295Wilkins saw immediately: Ibid, p. 160.

  295Wilkins had left Franklin a note: Maddox, pp. 152–3. Letter from MHFW to REF, undated (July 1951). Wilkins Papers, K/PP178/3/9.

  295Bexhill-on-Sea: Aged nine, Rosalind Franklin was sent to Lindores, a boarding school in the town: Glynn, pp. 16–18.

  296both helpful and threatening: Letter from Sir Edward Salisbury to JTR, 25 Aug 1951. Randall Papers, RNDL 2/2/2.

  296Wilkins had drifted away: JTR’s reply to Salisbury and to Wilkins, 28 Aug 1951. Ibid.

  296revelling in the trip: Wilkins 2003, pp. 151–3; Olby 1974, p. 347.

  296From London, he went: Wilkins 2003, pp. 153–4.

  296concentrate full-time: Ibid, pp. 148, 153.

  297heard on the grapevine: formal confirmation came in a letter from A Landsborough Thomson, MRC, to JTR, 22 Oct 11951. Randall Papers RNDL2/2/2.

  297another worrying letter: Maddox, p. 151.

  297a steely ‘hands off’: Ibid, p. 152.

  297finally started photographing fibres: Maddox, p. 153.

  297a completely different result: Ibid; Wilkins 2003, pp. 154–5.

  297‘a cold superiority’: Ibid, p. 155.

  297‘stumped’ by her reaction: Ibid, pp. 160–2.

  298‘impossible to have a civilised discussion’: Ibid, pp. 161–2; Ray Gosling, quoted in Glynn, p. 120: ‘Maurice would simply walk away’.

  298a good shouting match: Maddox, pp. 92–3.

  298He bought her chocolates: Wilkins 2003, p. 150; Maddox, p. 145.

  Chapter 22: Whizz kid

  FHCC = Francis Crick; JDW = Jim Watson; MHFW = Maurice Wilkins; REF = Rosalind Franklin.

  299a note inviting Wilkins: Judson, p. 116; Watson 1968, pp. 54–6.

  299on the bus: Wilkins 2003, pp. 138–9.

  299one of Astbury’s team: Reginald Preston, quoted in Olby 1974, p. 353; cf. Watson’s account, 1968, pp. 33–4.

  299a ‘very excited man’: Wilkins 2003, p. 139; Portugal & Cohen, p. 249.

  299he told Gosling: Watson 2012, p. 27.

  300Chicago born and bred: Portugal & Cohen, pp. 247–8; Olby 1974, pp. 297–8.

  300Quiz Kids: Feldman RD. Whatever happened to the Quiz Kids? Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 1982, pp. 24, 324, 347–8.

  300a ‘bird buff’: Ibid, pp. 351–3, 365.

  300‘a fund of small talk’: Olby 1974, p. 297.

  300‘the secret of the gene’: Ibid; Watson 1968, p. 21.

  300a PhD on genetics: Ibid, pp. 22–4; Olby 1974, pp. 299–306.

  301a substantial paper: Watson J.D. The biological properties of X-ray inactivated bacteriophage. J Bact 1950; 60: 697–718.

  301the high-powered Phage Group: Finch, p. 31.

  301‘the essential genetic material’: Watson 1968, p. 23.

  301a close friend of Roy Avery: McCarty 1985, p. 156.

  301Watson was awarded a fellowship: Watson 1968, pp. 24–6.

  302Kalckar announced: Ibid, p. 28.

  302the lack of ‘inspiring guidance’: Olby 1974, p. 308.

  302‘fantastically irregular’: Watson 1968, p. 33.

  302the talk by Maurice Wilkins: Watson 2012, pp. 25–6; 1968, pp. 32–3.

  302Watson’s attention settled: Ibid, pp. 39–40; Luria ran into Kendrew: Ibid, p. 39; Watson walked away from Copenhagen: Ibid, pp. 43–4.

  302‘with no hair’: Crick 1988, p. 64.

  303the ‘fun of talking to Francis Crick’: Watson 1968, p. 31.

  303Crick was ‘electrified’ by Watson: Judson, p. 112.

  303lunch in the Eagle: Ibid, pp. 111–2; Crick 1988, p. 68; Watson 1968, p. 65.

  303Perutz gave them a room: Judson, pp. 111–2.

  303‘perfectly candid’: Crick, interview in 1962, quoted in Olby 1974, p. 316.

  303‘never seen such a beautiful place’: Watson 1968, pp. 42, 146.

  303‘unbelievably damp’: Ibid, pp. 8, 42–3; Judson, p. 105.

  304Bragg’s very obvious allergy: Watson 1968, p. 9.

  304trying and failing: Finch, pp. 17–8.

  304‘Before my arrival in Cambridge’: Watson 1968, p.13.

  304‘a bachelor who worked at King’s’: Ibid, p. 15.

  304Wilkins talked freely: Ibid, pp. 54–6.

  305a busy few days: Watson 2012, p. 63.

  305blanketed in fog: Watson 1968, pp. 68–70.

  306prepared thoroughly: Franklin’s notes are in Wilkins Papers, K/PP178/5/3; the first page is reproduced in Watson 2012, p. 63. See also Wilkins 2003, pp. 162–3.

  306a ‘big helix’ or ‘several chains’: Ibid, p. 163.

  306Wilkins took Watson into Soho: Watson 1968, pp. 70–4.

  306Looking back years later: Wilkins 2003, p. 173; Wilkins Papers, K/PP178/3/5/17.

  307‘a mysterious smile’: Wilkins 2003, pp. 164–6.

  307a draft manuscript: Watson 2012, pp. 57–8.

  307They wrote up their paper: Crick F.H.C., Cochrane W. Evidence for the Pauling-Corey alpha-helix in synthetic polypeptides. Nature 1951; 169:234–5.

  307Bragg was impressed: Judson, p. 117.

  308a plausible structure: Watson 1968, pp. 75–7.

  308Crick was obviously irritated: Ibid, p. 75.

  308thrilled with their ‘scoop’: Ibid, pp. 78–91.

  308Gosling later recalled: Gosling, interviews in 2012, quoted in Watson 2012, p. 91.

  309‘her best pedagogic style’: Ibid; Wilkins 2003, p. 172.

  309‘Francis prattled on’: Watson 1968, pp. 92–6.

  309hardened Franklin’s prejudice: Wilkins, quoted in Portugal & Cohen, p. 268.

  309a competition which could degenerate: Olby 1974, pp. 361–2.

  309Crick had written a memo: Watson 2012, p. 85. Wilkins’s view: Wilkins 2003, p. 172.

  310wrote on headed notepaper: Ibid, p. 173. Letter from MHFW to FHCC, 11 Dec 1951, Wilkins Papers, K/PP178/3/5/4.

  310backed up by a handwritten note: Ibid; reproduced in Watson 2012, p. 97.

  310issued a decree: Watson 1968, pp. 97–9.

  311written to the NRC: Watson 2012, p. 43.

  311a stinging rebuke: Ibid, p. 44.

  311the support of Watson’s mother: Olby 1974, p. 309.

  311persuasive letters: Watson 2012, pp. 38–40.

  311their machine-shop templates: Wilkins 2003, p. 175.

  311attempted to bring peace: Ibid, pp. 157–8.

  311handed Franklin all that remained: Ibid, p. 157.

  311Franklin did not stay: Maddox, pp. 167–8.

  Chapter 23: Handicap race

  FHCC = Francis Crick; JDW = Jim Watson; MHFW = Maurice Wilkins; REF = Rosalind Franklin.

  313‘The greatest advance’: Linus Pauling, quoted in Portugal & Cohen, p. 271.

  314the ‘primary controlling centre’: Boivin, pp. 16–7.

  314an astonishing process: Alberts B., Johnson A., Lewis J. et al. The initiation and completion of DNA replication in chromosomes. In: Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th edition. New York: Garland Science; 2002. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26826.

  315totally unprepared: Wilkins 2003, p. 178.

  315‘Some action is required’: letter from JTR to MHFW, 30 Jan 1952. Wilkins Papers, K/PP178/2/2/2.

  315Chargaff’s DNA was not as good: Wilkins 2003, pp. 157, 177.

  315‘DNA muddles’: Ibid, pp. 176–7.

  316put him down: Ibid, p. 169.

  316The sperm sacs of squid: Ibid, pp. 168–9; and see Wilkins & Randall, 1953 (below).

  316‘friendly social contact’: Wilkins 2003, p. 175.

  316another European adventure: Ibid, pp. 179–80.

  316a four-page letter: from MHFW to FHCC, undated (May or June 1952). Wilkins Papers K/PP 178
/3/5/5.

  317a two-month sabbatical: Wilkins 2003, pp. 186–94.

  317DNA in cuttlefish: Wilkins M.H.F., Randall J.T. Crystallinity in sperm heads: molecular structure of nucleoprotein in vivo. Biochim Biophys Acta 1953; 10:192–3.

  318he smashed up everything: Wilkins 2003, p. 195.

  318happy, social and enmeshed: Maddox, pp. 138–40.

  318including evenings out: Watson 2012, p. 64.

  318behaving and speaking like an aristocrat: Maddox, p. 127.

  318Her only confidantes: the motherly photographic technician was Freda Ticehurst: Maddox, p. 137.

  318smuggled special X-ray film into England: letter from Bruce and Mary Fraser to MHFW, 27 May 1999. Wilkins Papers, K/PP178/3/10.

  318Pratt was surprised: Dr Margaret North, interview with GW, Leeds, 28 Feb 2018.

  318a technician was astonished: Maddox, p. 175.

  318a letter she wrote: Ibid, p. 172. A facsimile is in Watson 2012, p. 67.

  318a no-go area: Wilkins 2003, p. 169.

  319Franklin had worked systematically: Maddox, pp. 168–70, 174–8.

  319the ‘helical cross’ pattern: Wilkins 2003, pp. 154–5.

  319‘difficult conceptions in crystallography’: Max Perutz, quoted in Judson, p. 150.

  319feeling their way in the dark: Ibid, p. 150; Olby 1974, p. 149.

  320‘buried in papers’: Bill Seeds, quoted in Maddox, p. 183.

  320led them astray: Olby 1974, p. 370.

  320suggested in her fellowship report: Maddox, p. 170.

  320no longer believed in the helix: Ibid, pp. 178–9.

  320A conference in Yugoslavia: Ibid, pp. 179–81.

  320a handwritten card from Franklin and Gosling: Wilkins 2003, pp. 181–3.

  320Wilkins was not amused: Ibid, pp. 182–3.

  321‘on the wrong track’: Ibid, pp. 181–4; Judson, p. 102. After REF’s departure from King’s, MHFW checked her data and found ‘no evidence’ against a helix, concluding that her deductions had been based on ‘bad work’: letter from MHFW to Max Perutz, 20 Dec 1968. Wilkins Paper, K/PP178/3/33/001–108.

  321His uncertainty came through: Wilkins 2003, p. 184.

  321not confidential: Judson, p. 165.

  321News of her departure: Maddox, p. 187.

  321Mering had no job for her: Ibid, p. 168.

  321without telling Randall: Ibid, pp. 171–3. Randall only found out when Turner & Newall wrote to him on 1 July 1952 to ask if he would recommend the transfer of the third year of her fellowship to Birkbeck. Randall Papers RNDL 3/1/6.