I have been intrigued with Francis Crick after reading James Watson's "The Double Helix." Crick, with his non-stop talk and his booming laugh stepped out of those pages as a very unique personality as well as a unique scientist. Crick almost seems to have emerged a full-blown scientist like Athena from the head of Zeus. He was incredibly knowledgeable even as a somewhat elderly (over thirty) graduate student. In "Mad Pursuit" Dr. Crick takes your thumb and firmly imbeds it into the scientific pie In order to understand the background necessary to fathom the depths of the physical and three dimensional aspect of DNA, an understanding of crystal diffraction is necessary. Crick makes sure you're with him as he explains.
The atoms of a crystal cause an X ray beam to diffract into many specific directions, creating "spots." The resulting pattern can tell the expert the atoms present in that particular molecule and how they are arranged. DNA is relatively simple with the four bases, adenine paired with thymine, cytosine with guanine. Whatever the sequence on one helix strand, the other has to have the complementary sequence: always C with G and A with T. Crick says the relatively simple arrangement of only four bases was necessary for life to get established in the new universe, the simpler the better for achieving success.
The chapter called "How to live with a Golden Helix" is my favorite as Crick puts his spin on the famous events surrounding the phenomenal break through. He says that it it is DNA itself, not the scientists who are glamorous, although one could argue this point. Perhaps the crux of the discussion is Crick's take on Rosalind Franklin and the feud between her and Maurice Wilkins at King's College, London. Crick's "What mad Pursuit" was published in 1988 and in the years since, Franklin, even though deceased, has become famous in her own right. Crick remarks that Rosalind did not have the panache of Linus Pauling, which is certainly true. Very few scientists have Pauling's showmanship. But Crick remarks that he and Watson at Cambridge worked harmoniously together, while workers at King's did not. Franklin apparently thought Wilson considered her his assistant and rebelled. Crick, however, does not make the salient point that Wilkins showed Watson one of Franklin's Xray diffraction pictures-the now famous #51- which he borrowed without Franklin's knowledge or permission. The wily Watson took one look at the diffraction pattern and knew at once that the B form of DNA was a double helix. Crick says that Franklin was very, very close to solving the mystery herself, only two steps away.
"What mad pursuit" is a quotation from Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn."Crick describes the red herrings, sloppy science, unsound, unproven ideas and fiascoes that confront the research scientist. He also describes the flights of sheer brilliance and courage that accompany any scientific discovery. His book is part memoir part genetics 101 as he takes you on his journeys into the depths pure science. He talks about natural selection, and the genetic code and as a Professor at the Salk Institute his then current studies of neuroanatomy, brain science.
The text is accompanied by really wonderful photographs of many of the major players on his stage. You'll see Linus Pauling with his molecule models, looking like the conjuror he was, Wilkins, Watson and other famous investigators, his wife Odile and his mother for whom Crick is a dead ringer. One wishes the modest Crick had talked more about his personal life, but the impression he gives is that of a charming extrovert who just happened to be a great scientist.
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Top reviews from other countries
Miss Nomer
Good insight into some amazing discoveries
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 13, 2021bluejohn
An unexpectedly dramatic account
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 18, 2010Mr. James F. Mcdonald
What Mad Pursuit
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 8, 2014Barry P. Mcmahon
While I think Crick is great and their achievement was great
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 9, 2016