Summary
Chapters 1–10
In the opening chapters of The Double Helix, the key figures involved in uncovering the structure of DNA are introduced. Watson skillfully intertwines character sketches with the narrative of his arrival at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England. Here, he begins to form connections with fellow scientists, some of whom become allies while others are rivals. As a young man from the Midwest embarking on his first major adventure, Watson concludes that "a scientist’s life might be socially engaging as well as intellectually stimulating," a philosophy he embraces through activities like hiking in the Alps and "midnight excursions to waterfront bars."
Watson's primary objective at the Cavendish Laboratory is to explore the molecular structure of proteins by constructing three-dimensional models. Upon meeting Crick, whom he describes as never having been seen "in a modest mood," Watson is thrilled to find a colleague who shares his fascination with DNA research. Since the DNA molecule is too small to be viewed through a microscope, it can only be "visualized" in its crystallized form using X-ray techniques. However, neither Watson nor Crick possesses advanced skills in crystallography, necessitating the assistance of experts at the competing King’s College in London to obtain images of the molecule. This brings Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin into the story. Although these two "colleagues" act more like adversaries, both are engaged in DNA research through crystallography at the King’s College laboratory.
The three male scientists form a friendship, while Franklin is depicted as a woman with "combative moods" who does "not highlight her feminine attributes." Despite this, Wilkins recognizes that he requires Franklin's expertise to compete with Linus Pauling, who is also investigating the DNA enigma at his California lab. Watson and Crick grasp the predicament as well and resolve to extract as much information from Franklin—by any means necessary—to outpace Pauling in solving the mystery. The closing line of Chapter 2, "The thought could not be avoided that the best home for a feminist was in another person’s lab," encapsulates the tense atmosphere at the King’s College laboratory.
In Chapter 10, Watson attends a presentation by Franklin, who describes the DNA molecule as having a helical shape with a sugar-phosphate backbone on the exterior. However, Watson fails to take notes during the lecture, relying instead on his memory to recall Franklin’s theory. This oversight will prove to be a significant setback in his and Crick’s efforts to construct a DNA model.
Chapters 11–21
In the middle section of the book, the narrative focuses on an experiment that sets Watson and Crick back by approximately a year in their DNA research. Watson, unable to recall Franklin's exact words from her lecture, provides Crick with incorrect information regarding her proposal. The primary error in their resulting model is placing the backbone on the inside, contrary to Franklin's assertion. Despite their confidence in this "discovery," Watson and Crick present their model to Wilkins and Franklin. It doesn’t take long for Franklin and others to dismantle their idea, proving it to be both incorrect and absurd. Upon learning of this failure, Lawrence Bragg, the Nobel Prize-winning director of the Cavendish Laboratory, instructs Watson and Crick to cease their DNA research and leave it to the scientists at King’s College.
Over the following year, Crick focuses on completing his doctorate, while Watson turns his attention to studying the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). Watson notes, “A vital component of TMV was nucleic acid, and so it was the perfect front to mask my continued interest in DNA.” During this period, Watson also invites his sister to visit England for extended...
(This entire section contains 1089 words.)
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stays, and they both indulge in social activities and the English high life. However, Watson faces the potential loss of his research fellowship and must write letters of appeal to the United States, pretending to be interested in various fields to maintain financial support.
Chapters 22–Epilogue
By this time, Peter Pauling, son of the renowned Cal Tech chemist Linus Pauling, joins Watson and Crick at the Cavendish Laboratory, sharing office space with them. The trio becomes friends, and in late 1952, Pauling shares a preliminary report from his father, which outlines a proposed structure for DNA. Watson quickly examines the elder Pauling's work and is thrilled to identify a significant error. Watson realizes that "Pauling’s nucleic acid . . . was not an acid at all. . . . Without the hydrogen atoms, the chains would immediately fly apart and the structure vanish." After confirming the mistake with several colleagues—one of whom "predictably expressed pleasure that a giant had forgotten elementary college chemistry"—Watson and Crick decide to wait for Pauling to present his flawed theory to the scientific community, without warning him of the impending embarrassment. When the Cal Tech chemist’s paper is published in January 1953, it is swiftly met with negative reactions. With their competitor facing public humiliation, Watson and Crick become more determined than ever to reclaim their position in the race to uncover the structure of DNA.
The concluding chapters of the book detail the numerous experiments conducted before they successfully identify the correct sequence of the four nitrogen bases in each DNA strand. To achieve this, Watson returns to Wilkins at King’s College to get a more detailed view of the X-ray images that he and Crick will use to model their structure. Watson is pleased to discover that Wilkins has been secretly duplicating Franklin’s notes. Upon seeing an X-ray photograph that confirms the molecule's helical shape, he eagerly heads back to the Cavendish lab to inform Crick. During the train ride to Cambridge, Watson doodles helix-shaped molecules in the margins of a newspaper, deducing that the molecules likely consist of two DNA strands—a double helix.
After Watson and Crick publish their groundbreaking findings in 1953, the scientific community acknowledges that they have indeed uncovered the secret of gene replication. Linus Pauling even travels from America to join in a celebratory dinner. It is only in the book’s epilogue that Watson expresses any remorse for his depiction of Rosalind Franklin throughout his narrative. In the final paragraph, he confesses that both he and Crick:
eventually came to deeply value her personal integrity and generosity, recognizing, albeit years too late, the challenges faced by an intelligent woman striving for acceptance in a scientific community that frequently views women as distractions from serious thought.
Watson concludes the book by acknowledging Franklin’s battle with cancer and praises her for ‘‘maintaining a high level of work until just weeks before her passing.’’