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Dr. James D. Watson in His Own Words
The Writings of Co-Discoverer of DNA Structure Go on Display at the Science, Industry and Business Library, September 23 - December 31 Free Lecture by Dr. Watson Scheduled for November 3 at Library New York, NY, September 19, 2003 -- “We wish to suggest a structure for the salt deoxyribose nucleic acid (D.N.A.). This structure has novel features which are of considerable biological interest.” These are the understated opening sentences of a one-page letter by James D. Watson and Francis Crick in the April 25, 1953 journal Nature that launched a revolution. Their discovery of the double helical structure of DNA 50 years ago began the transformation of science and medicine that continues unabated today. As part of its year-long celebration of the discovery, the Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL) of The New York Public Library presents the exhibition Honest Jim: James D. Watson the Writer, opening September 23. The exhibition, which draws on archival material from the James D. Watson personal collection of The Library and Archives of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory will be on view in SIBL’s Healy Hall through December 31, 2003 and then will travel to the University of Chicago, The Library is located at 188 Madison Avenue at 34th Street. Admission is free. The Library will also present a talk by Dr. Watson on November 3 and offer other related programs. “This exhibition, which focuses on Dr. Watson as a writer, gives us insights into one of the most extraordinary scientists of our time and the important scientific breakthrough in which he has played a key and on-going role,“ said Kristin McDonough, the Robert and Joyce Menschel Director of the Science, Industry and Business Library. "We really wanted to communicate through Dr. Watson's personal writings that he is distinguished as a scientist and also as an educator, a mentor, and an advocate for scientific policy, all of which can be seen through this exhibition," added Ludmila Pollock, director, Library and Archives at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The exhibition chronicles his life and ideas through letters, theses, books, essays, lectures, photographs, and other memorabilia. Two artifacts from his childhood give evidence of his two life-long passions of writing and science. There is his report on “The Prairie State,” for which he invented The Luella Press publisher, named for the Chicago avenue on which he lived, and a field report from a bird-watching expedition to Jackson Park. A photo recalls his student days at the University of Chicago, which he entered at the age of 15, planning to become an ornithologist. Also on display is his 1950 graduate thesis from Indiana University on the properties of X-ray-inactivated bacteriophage. The two 1953 Nature papers -- the original letter and the expanded article -- announcing the discovery of the DNA structure are included in the section on his post-doctoral research in England. His research and teaching at Harvard, his years as Director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, his stint as Director of the Human Genome Project, and his on-going science advocacy are all represented in the exhibition. The bound manuscript for his autobiographical memoir Manners for Science (scheduled for publication in 2004) is included in the final section of the exhibition “Writing for Posterity.” Each chapter concludes with Watson’s “Remembered Lessons,” such as “Never be the brightest person in the room,” “Work on Sundays,” and “Avoid gatherings of more than two Nobel Prize winners.” The seven-foot model of the DNA molecule that was a highlight of last season’s SIBL exhibition, Seeking the Secret of Life: The DNA Story in New York, remains. In addition, the exhibition cases on the Library’s Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman street level will contain titles from the Library’s collection by authors who have won the Pulitzer Prize for writing on science themes. Dr. Watson is a prolific writer, the author of eight books and numerous essays in popular magazines. His first book, Molecular Biology of the Gene (1965), was the first textbook in the field and changed the way biology was taught. Avoiding scientific jargon and using extensive simplified, colored diagrams, the book served as a model for subsequent biological textbooks. The Double Helix (1968), his account of the discovery of DNA’s structure, has been translated into 36 languages so far. It was chosen by the Modern Library Association as the seventh most important nonfiction work of the 20th century, and The New York Public Library selected it as one of the 100 “Books of the Century.” “Honest Jim,” the ironic nickname given by a fellow scientist, was adopted by Dr. Watson for his uninhibited literary style and opinions, which frequently provoke controversy. His strongly-held views are often politically incorrect, but he communicates directly with his audience, whether scientific colleagues, students, or the broader public.” Only with the discovery of the double helix and the ensuing genetic revolution have we had grounds for thinking that the powers held traditionally to be the exclusive property of the gods might one day be ours,” he wrote in his book DNA: The Secret of Life (2003). In that same book he wrote, “I think everyone should give a DNA sample.” Dr. Watson has been a leading figure in science since the 1953 discovery, which earned him a Nobel Prize in 1962 (shared with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins). In his years at Harvard University, Dr. Watson did important research in ribonucleic acid (RNA). Later, he built the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island into a world-class center for molecular biology, and he was the first director of the Human Genome Project at the National Institutes of Health. As a prominent and passionate advocate on the national scene, Dr. Watson is aware of his responsibilities. When he served as director of The Human Genome Project, he dedicated 5% of the $3 billion budget to study the ethical, legal, and social implications of understanding humans on a chemical level. As he wrote in his 1989 report The Human Genome Project is Finally Underway, “Though the final monies required to complete the human DNA sequence of some three billion base pairs will be an order of magnitude smaller than that needed to let Americans explore the moon, the implications of the Human Genome Project for human life are likely to be far greater.” Honest Jim: James D. Watson the Writer was created by a team from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory: Ludmila Pollock, Director, Library and Archives; Jan Witkowski, Executive Director, Banbury Center; Kiryn Haslinger, Research Assistant; Cara Brick and Teresa Kruger, Archivists; and a team from The New York Public Library, Science, Industry and Business Library: John V. Ganly, Assistant Director for Collections; and Marguerite Nealon, Science Bibliographer. In conjunction with the exhibition, SIBL has scheduled a series of four free lectures, one of which will be given by Dr. Watson: Thursday, September 25, 5:30 p.m.
to 7:00 p.m Thursday, October 2, 5:30 p.m. to
7:00 p.m. Monday, November 3, 6:00 p.m. to
8:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 12, 5:30 p.m.
to 7:00 p.m. Honest Jim: James D. Watson the Writer is on view from September 23 through December 31, 2003 at The New York Public Library’s Science, Industry and Business Library, 188 Madison Avenue at 34th Street. Exhibition hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Sunday, Monday, and national holidays. Admission is free. For additional information, please call 212.592.7000. ### Contact: Rima Corben or Herb Scher at 212.704.8600
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