The Reading Biography

James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biologist, geneticist and zoologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA with Francis Crick, in 1953. Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the 1962 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". He studied at the University of Chicago and Indiana University and subsequently worked at the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory in England, where he first met his future collaborator and personal friend Francis Crick.
In 1956, Watson became a junior member of Harvard University's Biological Laboratories, holding this position until 1976, promoting research in molecular biology. Between 1988 and 1992, Watson was associated with the National Institutes of Health, helping to establish the Human Genome Project. Watson has written many science books, including the seminal textbook The Molecular Biology of the Gene (1965) and his bestselling book The Double Helix (1968) about the DNA structure discovery.
From 1968 he served as director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) on Long Island, New York, greatly expanding its level of funding and research. At CSHL, he shifted his research emphasis to the study of cancer. In 1994, he became its president for ten years, and then subsequently he served as its chancellor until 2007, when he resigned, due to a controversy over comments he made claiming black Africans are less intelligent than whites during an interview.

Francis Harry Compton Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist, and most noted for being one of two co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953, together with James D. Watson. He, Watson and Maurice Wilkins were jointly awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material".
Crick was an important theoretical molecular biologist and played a crucial role in research related to revealing the genetic code. He is widely known for use of the term “central dogma” to summarize an idea that genetic information flow in cells is essentially one-way, from DNA to RNA to protein.
During the remainder of his career, he held the post of J.W. Kieckhefer Distinguished Research Professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. His later research centered on theoretical neurobiology and attempts to advance the scientific study of human consciousness. He remained in this post until his death; "he was editing a manuscript on his death bed, a scientist until the bitter end" said Christof Koch ( he's a neurocientist, the latest Crick's collaborator) .

1951–1953: DNA structure

When James Watson came to Cambridge, Crick was a 35-year-old graduate student (due to his work during World War II) and Watson was only 23, but he already had a Ph.D. They shared an interest in the fundamental problem of learning how genetic information might be stored in molecular form. Watson and Crick talked endlessly about DNA and the idea that it might be possible to guess a good molecular model of its structure.

The Watson and Crick discovery of the DNA double helix structure was made possible by their willingness to combine theory, modeling and experimental results (albeit mostly done by others) to achieve their goal .

The discovery was made on February 28, 1953; the first Watson/Crick paper appeared in Nature on April 25, 1953.

Please read and answer the questions:

1.- Where was James D. Watson born?

a) China

b) EEUU

c) England

2.- Where did Watson & Crick start to investigate about the DNA structure?

a) Oxford University

b) Joan Oró Institute

c) Cambridge University

 3.- When did Watson & Crick receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine?

a) 2011

b) 1962

c) 1982

4.- Who was the other investigator that received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with our protagonists?

a) Christof Koch

b) Maurice Wilkins

c) Leo Messi

5.- Where did Watson study his degree?

a) He studied at the University of Chicago and Indiana University

b) He studied at the University of Massachusets and Detroit University

c) He studied at the University of Camberra and Adelaida University

6.- When did James Watson come to Cambridge?

a) Crick was a 35-year-old

b) Crick was born

c) Crick was dead

7.- What was the Watson and Crick discovery?

a) Watson and Crick discover of the DNA double helix structure

b) Watson and Crick discover The Law of Segregation states that when any individual produces gametes, the copies of a gene separate so that each gamete receives only one copy.

c) Watson and Crick discover The Law of Independent Assortment, also known as "Inheritance Law" states that alleles of different genes assort independently of one another during gamete formation

 

8.- When and where did they publish the first article of their discovery?

a) In the journal Hello on October 25, 1982

b) In the journal Nature on April 25, 1953

c) In the journal Science on November 18, 1963

 

9.- The last projects of Crick were related with ...

a) The research centered on theoretical neurobiology and attempts to advance the scientific study of human consciousness

b) The research centered on theoretical microbiology and attempts to advance the scientific study of human diseases

c) The research centered on entomology and attempts to advance the scientific study of insects consciousness

10.- When did Crick die?

a) In 28 July 2004

b) He is still alive

c) Recently, in 28 December 2010

Grammar

Write antonyms of these words.
consciousness                               
separate                                       
born
                                              
Write synonyms of these words.
independently
copy
discover

Translate to català

structure
year-old
molecular biologist

Memo

This memo is to advise you that we have prepared this blog for all the fans about the molecular structure DNA discovereds.

The blog are structurated in 3 parts.

The first section is "The Reading" and is dedicated to a brief biography about these scientists.
We put five questions about Watson and other five about Crick, if you choose our blog you must answer this questions.


The second section is "The Listening". We upload a video about about Watson, Crick or  their discovery, and we asked you five questions about it.


And the third section is "The writing". We propose to write your opinion about something in relation with the works of these scientists.