Matthew Cobb's DNA Discovery Biography

Matthew Cobb's biography, "Crick: A Mind in Motion," moves beyond the oft-told tale of the double helix to present a fuller picture of Francis Crick, including his significant but less-known later career in neuroscience. The book examines Crick's work on visual perception and human consciousness during his last 25 years at the Salk Institute. This reframing portrays Crick not just as a molecular biologist but as a restless and sociable thinker fascinated by the fundamental questions of life and the brain. The biography sheds new light on the discovery of DNA's structure, confirming their model's reliance on the unpublished work of biophysicists at King's College London, most notably Rosalind Franklin. Franklin's X-ray diffraction images, particularly the famous "Photo 51," were crucial to Watson and Crick's breakthrough. Cobb's earlier work, "Life's Greatest Secret," also delves into the broader race to crack the genetic code, highlighting the contributions of other scientists beyond the central trio. Cobb's portrait of Crick reveals a man galvanized by collaboration and debate, whose breakthroughs often came from intense interactions with others. His bold and sometimes arrogant approach allowed him to connect ideas from different disciplines, though it also led to friction with more established experts. The book explores his life beyond the lab, noting his fascination with Beat poetry and other cultural movements. Similarly offering a fresh perspective, Richard Holmes's biography "The Boundless Deep" examines the early life of poet Alfred Tennyson through the lens of the revolutionary scientific discoveries of the 19th century. Published by Pantheon Books, it reveals a young Tennyson deeply engaged with emerging concepts in geology, astronomy, and biology, which profoundly shaped his work and worldview. This approach recasts the Victorian poet as a figure grappling with modern sensibilities of wonder and existential anxiety.