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Book Description
From modest beginnings, Sydney Brenner has risen to become one of the most distinguished and influential scientists of the twentieth century. His research spans the breadth of biology - from deciphering the genetic code to establishing the role of the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism for developmental biology.
This entertaining account charts Brenner's life, in his own words, from early experiments in the back room of his father's shoe shop to his election as Director of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK and beyond. It offers a fascinating and intimate portrait of one of the giants of modern biology.
Excerpted from My Life in Science by Sydney Brenner. Copyright © 2001. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Seeing DNA
...of course the most important thing that happened then is that Jack Dunitz told me about all the developments with DNA in Cambridge because he was following it all. He told me that Francis Crick and Jim Watson had solved the structure of DNA, so we decided to go across to Cambridge to see it. This was in April of 1953.Jack and I and Leslie [Orgel] and another crystallographer went to Cambridge by car. It was a small car. It was very cold I remember, and the car wasn't heated. No one had heaters in cars then. We must have arrived in Cambridge in the late morning, at about 11am or thereabouts. We went into the Austin wing of the Cavendish Laboratory. I went in with Jack and Leslie, into this room that was lined with brick, and there on the side I can remember very clearly was this small model with plates for the bases - the original model with everything screwed together. And I could see the double helix!
Francis was sitting there. This was the first time I met him and of course he couldn't stop talking. He just went on and on and on, and it was very inspiring, you see. Of course at this stage neither of the two famous Nature papers had yet appeared. The first paper was expected in a few weeks. They talked mainly about what eventually was in the second paper. Jim was at his desk in that room which I came to occupy later when I came to the Cavendish, and he was interspersing comments with Francis. So that's when I saw the DNA model for the first time, in the Cavendish, and that's when I saw that this was it. And in a flash you just knew that this was very fundamental. The curtain had been lifted and everything was now clear [as to] what to do. And I got tremendously excited by this.
...of course the most important thing that happened then is that Jack Dunitz told me about all the developments with DNA in Cambridge because he was following it all. He told me that Francis Crick and Jim Watson had solved the structure of DNA, so we decided to go across to Cambridge to see it. This was in April of 1953.Jack and I and Leslie [Orgel] and another crystallographer went to Cambridge by car. It was a small car. It was very cold I remember, and the car wasn't heated. No one had heaters in cars then. We must have arrived in Cambridge in the late morning, at about 11am or thereabouts. We went into the Austin wing of the Cavendish Laboratory. I went in with Jack and Leslie, into this room that was lined with brick, and there on the side I can remember very clearly was this small model with plates for the bases - the original model with everything screwed together. And I could see the double helix!
Francis was sitting there. This was the first time I met him and of course he couldn't stop talking. He just went on and on and on, and it was very inspiring, you see. Of course at this stage neither of the two famous Nature papers had yet appeared. The first paper was expected in a few weeks. They talked mainly about what eventually was in the second paper. Jim was at his desk in that room which I came to occupy later when I came to the Cavendish, and he was interspersing comments with Francis. So that's when I saw the DNA model for the first time, in the Cavendish, and that's when I saw that this was it. And in a flash you just knew that this was very fundamental. The curtain had been lifted and everything was now clear [as to] what to do. And I got tremendously excited by this.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Produced from the transcript of videotaped autobiography
7 Jan 2005
Format:Paperback
The book was produced from the transcript of fifteen hour videotaped autobiography, as told to Lewis Wolpert. It has 191 pages of interviews and seven pages index. For some reason, the book format is bizarre. It's like a double-spaced manuscript with small fonts; very difficult to read. It doesn't have any figure or table or fun stuff. Just a text. Four pictures of him are included.
This is a typical science-for-popular-audience type book. Lots of amusing anecdotes in addition to the basic science story. But this book will be a little too specific for general audience, and too ambiguous for professionals. As Brenner is already the most well-known molecular biologist, most facts are not so new to people who knows this field (mRNA, C. elegans story). It doesn't have much behind-the-scene information (like the Watson's DH) either. I wish he included his perspective on more recent topics such as RNAi, functional genomics and bioinformatics. And I was expecting a little more political aspect, as he is from South Africa, but this book is 100% about biology.
I personally appreciate his criticism of Karl Popper's falsificationism, the importance of which I feel many British scientists overstate. Hume's "problem of induction" itself doesn't exist in the practical biology world from the beginning. I think there is no need to develop Popperian demarcation out of Logical positivism for this.
I recommend this book.
This is a typical science-for-popular-audience type book. Lots of amusing anecdotes in addition to the basic science story. But this book will be a little too specific for general audience, and too ambiguous for professionals. As Brenner is already the most well-known molecular biologist, most facts are not so new to people who knows this field (mRNA, C. elegans story). It doesn't have much behind-the-scene information (like the Watson's DH) either. I wish he included his perspective on more recent topics such as RNAi, functional genomics and bioinformatics. And I was expecting a little more political aspect, as he is from South Africa, but this book is 100% about biology.
I personally appreciate his criticism of Karl Popper's falsificationism, the importance of which I feel many British scientists overstate. Hume's "problem of induction" itself doesn't exist in the practical biology world from the beginning. I think there is no need to develop Popperian demarcation out of Logical positivism for this.
I recommend this book.
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