Description
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF SCIENCE, SCARCE OFFPRINT OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE DOUBLE HELIX STRUCTURE OF DNA, SIGNED BY JAMES WATSON
(CRICK, Francis) WATSON, James D. and CRICK, F.H.C. Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids. I. A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid (Watson and Crick); II. Molecular Structure of Deoxypentose Nucleic Acids (M.H.F. Wilkins, A.R. Stokes and H.R. Wilson); III. Molecular Configuration in Sodium Thymonucleate (Rosalind E. Franklin and R.G. Gosling). Offprint from Nature, Volume 171, pp. 737-741. London, April 25, 1953]. Octavo, staple-bound, with last leaf tipped at left edge onto preceding page, as issued; pp. 14, custom half morocco clamshell box.
Scarce copy of the first offprint of the first Watson and Crick article on DNA, announcing the double helix structure of DNA, concluding with perhaps the greatest understatement in the history of science: “It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material.” Signed by James Watson on the first page of text.
In 1962 Crick, Watson and Wilkins received the Nobel Prize “for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nuclear acids and its significance for information transfer in living material.” The publication of their joint paper in Nature revolutionized biochemistry and the other life sciences, and profoundly affected the study of molecular biology. Their discovery paved the way for the science of genomics, which gives scientists the power to compare genes, allowing them to analyze patterns of disease, the evolution of species, and the history of human groups and individuals. The final paper as it appears here was a complete work— Watson and Crick did not reveal their work to the scientific community in stages— making its impact all the greater. All the same, their paper is remarkably restrained in tone, ending with a masterpiece of understatement: “It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material.” Crick later explained that their reticence was the result of a compromise between the authors that recognized the need to claim priority while wishing to avoid speculation. This scarce offprint contains the three papers that appeared in the issue of Nature for April, 1953. The format of the offprint is smaller and printed single-column with wide margins, rather than the double-column quarto format of the journal itself. The diagram of the double helix is here printed at the head of page 2, whereas in the actual journal article it appears in the text. The offprint was printed from the standing type (rather than the electrotype plate used for the journal), and is, in effect, a galley proof, issued in a small number for distribution among the scientists involved. Fine condition. Extremely scarce signed.
