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A novel cache of letters released 50 years after Maurice Wilkins , Francis Crick and James Watson bring home the bacon theNobel Prizefor the uncovering of DNA ’s structure discover that not everyone agreed on which loot the triple should receive .
Wilkins , Crick and Watson end up win the 1962Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine"for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its signification for information transfer in living material , " harmonise to the prescribed mention . But at least one scientist nominated them for the chemistry prize instead , researchers spell this week ( April 25 ) in the journal Nature .
Francis Crick, shown here in his office is best known for co-discovering, along with James Watson, the structure of the DNA molecule.
Nature first bring out a serial of three newspaper line the anatomical structure of desoxyribonucleic acid by the team on April 25 , 1953 , make this year the sixtieth anniversary of the discovery . Watson , Crick , Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin ( who give-up the ghost before the 1962 Nobel Prize was present ) and their colleagues were the first to understand DNA ’s unparalleled dual - spiral social structure . [ Photos : Crick DNA Nobel On the Auction Block ]
Nobel Prize teaser
Jan Witkowski and Alexander Gann of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York wrote to the Nobel committee to request the liberation of the nominating address letter for the 1962 prize , as nomination letter are unsealed after 50 years . To their surprise , one letter of the alphabet seemed to be missing : That of Jacques Monod , a French biologist who would later gain the Nobel Prize himself for research into thegenetics of enzyme .
Doctor Francis Crick’s endorsement of the Nobel Prize check.
" We were surprised because both Jim Watson and Francis Crick say that Monod was one of the multitude who nominated them , " Witkowski told LiveScience . In fact , in 1961 , Crick sent Monod a nine - page letter telling the story of the DNA structure discovery , at Monod ’s request .
Monod worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris , so Witkowski and Gann turned to the Institute ’s archive to address the puzzle of the absent nomination . There , they found Monod ’s nominating address varsity letter — only ship to an unexpected address .
" It turns out that he nominated them for the chemical science trophy , and not the medicine prize , " Witkowski said . That ’s why the medicine or physiology committee had no platter of the nominating address , though the committee must have shared the nominating address letters to resolve which of the two prizes the DNA construction scientists should win .
Third nominee
The nomination letter also reveal that Franklin , who died in 1958 , was never nominated for the Nobel Prize . There has been a muckle of controversy over whether Franklin would have deal in the Nobel had she been alive in 1962 , Witkowski said . ( Nobels are not awarded posthumously . ) Many have argued that Franklin ’s contributions were downplayed and overlooked by Watson and Crick .
As it turn out , Franklin died two years before the DNA social organisation was first nominated for the Nobel , which occur in 1960 . Wilkins , who did former work on DNA structure , was also not a major contender from the nominators ' position ; of six nominations , not let in Monod ’s , only one included Wilkins . Two others suggested that the committee might possibly let in him , but did n’t make a case for it . In his alphabetic character to Monod , Crick was insistent Wilkins should be put up , however .
" It could be that the nomination Monod write , following Crick ’s advice , where he strongly indorse Wilkins may have aid sway the committee , " Witkowski pronounce .
Another serial of letters , these consisting of personal proportionateness release in 2010 , reveal that despite this nomination congeniality , there were professional rivalriesbetween Watson and Crick and Wilkins — not to mention sexist mental attitude toward Franklin . Another varsity letter from Crick to his boy explicate DNAwent for a whopping $ 6 millionat auction earlier this calendar month .
