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Good Science, Bad Ethics Or, Does the end Justify the Means Introduction • 1935 Max Delbrück publishes paper on gene mutation • 1944 Research into viruses shows that DNA was responsible for gene mutation • 1946 Schrödinger popularizes idea of genes as information carriers in his book What is Life? • The race to discover the geometrical arrangement of the DNA, the “Rosetta Stone” of genetics, was on! The Players • Linus Pauling discovers the basic structure of the protein molecule at Cal Tech in 1951. Soon after he starts to model DNA. • Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin begin studying the structure of DNA using X-ray crystallography by 1951 at King’s college • In that year James Watson joined Francis Crick as researchers in the Cavendish laboratory under the supervision of Max Perutz and Sir Lawrence Bragg • Bragg and Perutz had been studying complex proteins for some time, also using X-ray techniques • Important investigations into the structure of DNA were done by Pauling, Wilkins and Franklin. • It was Crick and Watson who were able to pull everything together and make a correct model • 1953 Watson and Crick are the first to publish the correct structure of DNA • 1958 Franklin dies • 1962 Watson, Crick, and Wilkins are awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine • 1967 Watson publishes The Double Helix, his account of the discovery • Watson’s account reveals he is a jerk and he and Crick violated ethical norms for scientists Wilkins and Franklin • Wilkins considered Franklin his lab assistant, this was not the case • There was bad blood between Wilkins and Franklin • Franklin takes first X-rays of DNA • It was Wilkins that provided Franklin’s data to Crick and Watson • Franklin was not credited in Watson and Crick’s paper Sir Bragg • Bragg was in charge of the Cavendish laboratory • Unwritten standards at the time dictated that scientists not compete with colleagues on projects • DNA was Wilkins project, Bragg told Watson and Crick to cease work • Watson and Crick push ahead anyway The Double Helix • Harvard University Press refused to publish the book • Crick, Wilkins, and others objected to Watson’s book claiming it misrepresented the truth • Watson’s portrayal of women in general and Franklin in particular was demeaning and at times simply untrue Watson, you twit! • “The thought could not be avoided that the best home for a feminist was in another person’s lab.” • “Momentarily I wondered how she would look if she took off her glasses and did something novel with her hair.” (Franklin did not wear glasses) • Sir Lawrence Bragg was “a relic of the past” who had “lived too long under the shadow of his famous father”. • In France “fair play obviously did not exist”. • “A goodly number of scientists are not only narrow minded and dull, but also just stupid.” Evidence Watson/Crick Acted Unethically • Watson was in violation of his fellowship • Watson and Crick were told by Bragg to discontinue research on DNA • King’s College group already working on DNA • Unpublished data was obtained without Franklin’s knowledge and used without her consent • Franklin was misrepresented and unrecognized Points to Ponder • Is there a code of ethics for scientists? • What are the consequences for a breach of said code? • Is it a scientist’s responsibility to accurately represent an event, a situation, or person? • Is moral fuzziness and acceptable price to pay for scientific innovation? The True Turtleneck References • Watson, James The Double Helix; Edited by Gunther S. Stent, Norton & Co. 1980. Edition contains original papers, reviews and commentaries from several sources • James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, and Rosalind Franklin article from website http://www.chemheritage.org/EducationalServices/chemach/ppb/cwwf.html copyright 2000 The Chemical Heritage Society • Rosalind Franklin from http://www1.um.edu/scitech/franklin.htm