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{{Short description|English physicist and biologist (1916–2004)}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| birth_name        = Francis Harry Compton Crick
| honorific_suffix  = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OM|FRS}}
| image             = Francis Crick crop.jpg
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1916|6|8|df=yes}}
| birth_place       = [[Weston Favell]], Northamptonshire, England
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|2004|7|28|1916|6|8|df=yes}}
| death_place       = [[San Diego]], California, US
| occupation        = {{hlist|[[Molecular biologist]]|[[biophysicist]]|[[neuroscientist]]}}
| field             = {{Plainlist|
* [[Physics]]
* [[Molecular biology]]}}
|  education        = {{Plainlist|
* [[University College London]]
* [[University of London]] (BSc)
* [[University of Cambridge]] (PhD)}}
| workplaces        = {{Plainlist|
* University of Cambridge
* University College London
* [[Cavendish Laboratory]]
* [[Laboratory of Molecular Biology]]
* [[Salk Institute for Biological Studies]]}}
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Max Perutz]]<ref name=Obituary/>
| doctoral_students = None<ref name=Obituary/>
| thesis_title      = Polypeptides and Proteins: X-Ray Studies
| thesis_url        = https://wellcomecollection.org/works/eum3u88p
| thesis_year       = 1953
| known_for         = {{Plainlist|
* {{no wrap|[[Crick, Brenner et al. experiment]]}}
* [[Base pair|Watson–Crick pair]]
* [[Coiled coil]]
* [[DNA structure]]
* [[mRNA]]
* [[Adaptor hypothesis]]
* [[Sequence hypothesis]]
* [[Wobble base pair|Wobble hypothesis]]
* [[Central dogma]]
* [[Consciousness]]
* [[Reverse learning]]
* [[Selfish genetic element]]}}
| prizes            = {{Plainlist|
<!--* [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (1959)<ref name=frs/><ref name=rsbm/>-->
* [[Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research]] (1960)
* [[Gairdner Foundation International Award]] (1962)
* [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize]] (1962)
<!--* [[EMBO Membership]] (1964)<ref name=EMBO/>-->
* [[Mendel Medal (genetics)|Mendel Medal]] (1966)
<!--* [[Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences]] (1969)-->
* [[Royal Medal]] (1972)
* [[Copley Medal]] (1975)
* [[Sir Hans Krebs Medal]] (1977)
* [[Albert Medal (Royal Society of Arts)|Albert Medal]] (1987)
* Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]]<ref name="achievement.org">{{cite web |title=Golden Plate Awardees |work=[[American Academy of Achievement]] |url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}</ref> (1987)
* [[Order of Merit]] (1991)}}
| spouse            = {{Plainlist|
* {{marriage|Ruth Doreen Dodd|1940|1947|end=div.}}
* {{marriage|[[Odile Crick|Odile Speed]]|1949}}}}
| children          = 3
| signature         = Francis Crick signature.svg
| website           = {{URL|www.crick.ac.uk/about-us/francis-crick}}
}}

'''Francis Harry Compton Crick''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OM|FRS}}<ref name=frs>{{cite web|title=Fellowship of the Royal Society 1660–2015 |url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RVVZY00MZNrK2YCTTzVrbTFH2t3RxoAZah128gQR-NM/pubhtml |publisher=[[Royal Society]] |location=London |author=Anon |year=2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015185820/https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RVVZY00MZNrK2YCTTzVrbTFH2t3RxoAZah128gQR-NM/pubhtml |archive-date=15 October 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=rsbm/> (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was an English [[molecular biologist]], [[biophysicist]], and [[neuroscientist]]. He, [[James Watson]], [[Rosalind Franklin]], and [[Maurice Wilkins]] played crucial roles in deciphering the [[Nucleic acid double helix|helical structure]] of the [[DNA molecule]].

Crick and Watson's paper in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' in 1953 laid the groundwork for understanding [[DNA structure]] and functions.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Watson |first1=James |last2=Crick |first2=Francis |date=25 April 1953 |title=Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/171737a0 |journal=Nature |volume= 171|issue=4356 |pages=737–738 |doi=10.1038/171737a0 |pmid=13054692 |bibcode=1953Natur.171..737W |access-date=|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Together with Maurice Wilkins, they were jointly awarded the 1962 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] "for their discoveries concerning the [[molecular geometry|molecular structure]] of [[nucleic acid]]s and its significance for information transfer in living material".<ref name=Obituary>{{Cite journal
| last1 = Rich | first1 = A.
| author-link1 = Alexander Rich
| last2 = Stevens | first2 = C. F.
| author-link2 = Charles F. Stevens
| doi = 10.1038/430845a
| title = Obituary: Francis Crick (1916–2004)
| journal = Nature
| volume = 430
| issue = 7002
| pages = 845–847
| year = 2004
| pmid = 15318208
|bibcode = 2004Natur.430..845R | s2cid = 686071
| doi-access = free
}}</ref><ref>[https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1962/summary/ The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962]. Nobel Prize Site for Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962.</ref>

Crick was an important theoretical molecular biologist and played a crucial role in research related to revealing the helical structure of DNA. He is widely known for the use of the term "[[central dogma]]" to summarise the idea that once information is transferred from nucleic acids (DNA or RNA) to proteins, it cannot flow back to nucleic acids. In other words, the final step in the flow of information from nucleic acids to proteins is irreversible.<ref name="auto">{{Cite journal|author=Crick FH |title=On protein synthesis |journal=Symp. Soc. Exp. Biol. |volume=12 |pages=138–63 |year=1958 |pmid=13580867 |url= https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/B/Z/Y/_/scbbzy.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050912214303/http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/B/Z/Y/_/scbbzy.pdf |archive-date=2005-09-12 |url-status=dead |format=PDF reprint}}</ref>

During the remainder of his career, Crick held the post of J.W. Kieckhefer Distinguished Research Professor at the [[Salk Institute for Biological Studies]] in [[La Jolla, California]]. His later research centred on theoretical [[neurobiology]] and attempts to advance the scientific study of human consciousness. Crick remained in this post until his death in 2004; "he was editing a manuscript on his death bed, a scientist until the bitter end" according to [[Christof Koch]].<ref>{{cite web | last=Shermer | first=Michael | author-link=Michael Shermer | title=Astonishing Mind: Francis Crick 1916–2004 | publisher=Skeptics Society | date=30 July 2004 | url=http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/04-07-30.html | access-date=25 August 2006 | archive-date=7 July 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130707153748/http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/04-07-30/ | url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Crick was the first son of Harry Crick and Annie Elizabeth Crick (née Wilkins). He was born on 8 June 1916<ref name=rsbm>{{cite journal|last1=Bretscher|first1=Mark S.|author-link1=Mark Bretscher|last2=Mitchison|first2=Graeme|title=Francis Harry Compton Crick OM. 8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004|journal=[[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]]|volume=63|pages=159–196|year=2017|issn=0080-4606|doi=10.1098/rsbm.2017.0010|doi-access=free}}</ref> and raised in [[Weston Favell]], then a small village near the English town of [[Northampton]], in which Crick's father and uncle ran the family's boot and shoe factory. His grandfather, [[Walter Drawbridge Crick]], an amateur [[naturalist]], wrote a survey of local [[foraminifera]] (single-celled [[protist]]s with shells), corresponded with [[Charles Darwin]],<ref>{{Cite journal|first=Charles |last=Darwin |year=1882 |title=On the Dispersal of Freshwater Bivalves |journal=Nature |volume=25 |pages=529–30 |doi=10.1038/025529f0|bibcode = 1882Natur..25R.529D |issue=649|doi-access=free }}</ref> and had two [[gastropod]]s (snails or slugs) named after him.

At an early age, Francis was attracted to science and what he could learn about it from books. As a child, he was taken to church by his parents. But by about age 12, he said he did not want to go any more as he preferred a scientific search for answers over religious belief.<ref name="CrickWMP">[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], p. 10: "I remember telling my mother that I no longer wished to go to church".</ref>

Walter Crick, his uncle, lived in a small house on the south side of Abington Avenue; he had a shed at the bottom of his little garden where he taught Crick to blow glass, do chemical experiments and to make photographic prints. When he was eight or nine he transferred to the most junior form of the [[Northampton Grammar School]], on the Billing Road. This was about {{convert|1.25|mi|0|abbr=on}} from his home so he could walk there and back, by Park Avenue South and Abington Park Crescent, but he more often went by bus or, later, by bicycle. The teaching in the higher forms was satisfactory, but not as stimulating. After the age of 14, he was educated at [[Mill Hill School]] in London (on a scholarship), where he studied mathematics, [[physics]], and [[chemistry]] with his best friend John Shilston. He shared the Walter Knox Prize for Chemistry on Mill Hill School's Foundation Day, Friday, 7 July 1933. He declared that his success was founded on the quality of teaching he received whilst a pupil at Mill Hill.

Crick studied at [[University College London]] (UCL), a constituent college of the [[University of London]]<ref name="CrickWMPc1-2">[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], Chapters 1 and 2 provide Crick's description of his early life and education.</ref> and earned a [[Bachelor of Science]] degree awarded by the University of London in 1937. Crick began a PhD at UCL, but was interrupted by [[World War II]]. He later became a PhD student<ref name=phd>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Francis Harry Compton|last=Crick |title=Polypeptides and proteins : X-ray studies |publisher=University of Cambridge |year=1954 |url=https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/250994 |oclc=879394484 |id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.598146}}}}</ref> and Honorary Fellow of [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]], and mainly worked at the [[Cavendish Laboratory]] and the [[Medical Research Council (UK)|Medical Research Council]] (MRC) [[Laboratory of Molecular Biology]] in Cambridge. He was also an Honorary Fellow of [[Churchill College, Cambridge]], and of [[University College London]].

Crick began a PhD research project on measuring the [[viscosity]] of water at high temperatures (which he later described as "the dullest problem imaginable"<ref name="CrickWMP13">[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], p. 13</ref>) in the laboratory of physicist [[Edward Andrade|Edward Neville da Costa Andrade]] at University College London, but with the outbreak of [[World War II]] (in particular, an incident during the [[Battle of Britain]] when a bomb fell through the roof of the laboratory and destroyed his experimental apparatus),<ref name=Obituary/> Crick was deflected from a possible career in physics. During his second year as a PhD student, however, he was awarded the Carey Foster Research Prize, a great honour.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Olby, Robert |volume=99|issue=4|title= The Making of Modern Science: Biographical Studies |year=1970|page= 941|journal=Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences}}</ref> He did postdoctoral work at the [[New York University Tandon School of Engineering#Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute|Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute]],<ref name="science20.com">{{cite news|last1=White|first1=Michael|title=Francis Crick as Late Bloomer|url=https://www.science20.com/adaptive_complexity/blog/francis_crick_late_bloomer|access-date=11 January 2017|work=Science 2.0|publisher=ION Publications LLC|date=3 October 2009}}</ref> now part of the [[New York University Tandon School of Engineering]].

During World War II, he worked for the [[Admiralty Research Laboratory]], from which many notable scientists emerged, including [[David Bates (physicist)|David Bates]], [[Robert Boyd (physicist)|Robert Boyd]], [[Thomas Frohock Gaskell|Thomas Gaskell]], [[George Deacon]], [[John Currie Gunn|John Gunn]], [[Harrie Massey]], and [[Nevill Mott]];<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cruise |first=A. M. |date=2004-02-11 |title=Sir Robert Boyd |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2004/feb/11/obituaries.spaceexploration |access-date=2023-10-08 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> he worked on the design of [[Electromagnetism|magnetic]] and acoustic [[Naval mine|mines]] and was instrumental in designing a new mine that was effective against German [[minesweeper]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_wtd021051.html |title=Bio at Wellcome Trust |publisher=Genome.wellcome.ac.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070426215937/http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_WTD021051.html |archive-date=26 April 2007}}</ref>

==Post-World War II life and work==
In 1947, aged 31, Crick began studying biology and became part of an important migration of physical scientists into biology research. This migration was made possible by the newly won influence of physicists such as [[John Randall (physicist)|Sir John Randall]], who had helped win the war with inventions such as [[radar]]. Crick had to adjust from the "elegance and deep simplicity" of physics to the "elaborate chemical mechanisms that natural selection had evolved over billions of years." He described this transition as, "almost as if one had to be born again". According to Crick, the experience of learning physics had taught him something important—hubris—and the conviction that since physics was already a success, great advances should also be possible in other sciences such as biology. Crick felt that this attitude encouraged him to be more daring than typical biologists who tended to concern themselves with the daunting problems of biology and not the past successes of physics{{citation needed|date=November 2017}}.

For the better part of two years, Crick worked on the physical properties of [[cytoplasm]] at Cambridge's [[Strangeways Research Laboratory]], headed by [[Honor Bridget Fell]], with a [[Medical Research Council (UK)|Medical Research Council]] studentship, until he joined [[Max Perutz]] and [[John Kendrew]] at the [[Cavendish Laboratory]]. The Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge was under the general direction of [[William Lawrence Bragg|Sir Lawrence Bragg]], who had won the Nobel Prize in 1915 at the age of 25. Bragg was influential in the effort to beat a leading American chemist, [[Linus Pauling]], to the discovery of [[DNA structure|DNA's structure]] (after having been pipped at the post by Pauling's success in determining the alpha helix structure of proteins). At the same time Bragg's Cavendish Laboratory was also effectively competing with [[King's College London]], whose Biophysics department was under the direction of Randall. (Randall had refused Crick's application to work at King's College.) Francis Crick and [[Maurice Wilkins]] of King's College were personal friends, which influenced subsequent scientific events as much as the close friendship between Crick and [[James Watson]]. Crick and Wilkins first met at King's College{{citation needed|date=January 2013}} and not, as erroneously recorded by two authors, at the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] during World War II.

==Personal life==
Crick married twice and fathered three children; his brother Anthony (born in 1918) predeceased him in 1966.<ref>[[#Olby|Olby]], p. ix</ref>

Spouses:
* Ruth Doreen Crick, née Dodd (m. 18 February 1940 – 8 May 1947), who later married James Stewart Potter
* [[Odile Crick]], née Speed (m. 14 August 1949 – 28 July 2004)

Children:
* Michael Francis Compton (b. 25 November 1940) [with Doreen Crick]
* Gabrielle Anne (b. 15 July 1951) [with Odile Crick]
* Jacqueline Marie-Therese [later Nichols] (b. 12 March 1954, d. 28 February 2011) [with Odile Crick];

Crick died of [[colorectal cancer|colon cancer]] on the morning of 28 July 2004<ref name=rsbm/> at the [[University of California, San Diego]] (UCSD) Thornton Hospital in La Jolla; he was [[cremated]] and his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean. A public memorial was held on 27 September 2004 at the [[Salk Institute for Biological Studies|Salk Institute]], La Jolla, near San Diego, California; guest speakers included [[James Watson]], [[Sydney Brenner]], [[Alexander Rich|Alex Rich]], [[Seymour Benzer]], [[Aaron Klug]], [[Christof Koch]], [[Pat Churchland]], [[Vilayanur Ramachandran]], [[Tomaso Poggio]], [[Leslie Orgel]], [[Terry Sejnowski]], his son Michael Crick, and his younger daughter Jacqueline Nichols.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Francis Crick, Co-Discoverer of DNA, Dies at 88 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9E06E7D7113DF933A05754C0A9629C8B63 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=30 July 2004 |access-date=21 July 2007 | first=Nicholas | last=Wade}}</ref> A private memorial for family and colleagues was held on 3 August 2004.

Crick's [[Nobel Prize medal]] and diploma from the Nobel committee was sold at [[Heritage Auctions]] in June 2013 for $2,270,000. It was bought by Jack Wang, the CEO of Chinese medical company Biomobie.<ref name='HA13'>{{cite web|title=Francis Crick's Nobel Prize Brings $2.27 Million To Lead $4.97 Million Manuscripts And Rare Book Event |url=https://historical.ha.com/information/francis-crick-nobel-prize.s?ic=ih-arti-francis-crick-nobel-prize-071513|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117001024/https://historical.ha.com/information/francis-crick-nobel-prize.s?ic=ih-arti-francis-crick-nobel-prize-071513|archive-date=17 January 2021|publisher=Heritage Auctions|access-date=18 June 2023}}</ref><ref name='Guard13'>{{cite news|title=Francis Crick's Nobel prize medal sells for over £1.3m|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/apr/12/francis-crick-nobel-prize|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230510095215/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/apr/12/francis-crick-nobel-prize|archive-date=10 May 2023|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=16 March 2023}}</ref> 20% of the sale price of the medal was donated to the [[Francis Crick Institute]] in London.<ref name='Guard13'/>

==Research==
{{Double helix}}
Crick was interested in two fundamental unsolved problems of biology: how molecules make the transition from the non-living to the living, and how the brain makes a conscious mind.<ref name="CrickWMP17">[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], p. 17</ref> He realised that his background made him more qualified for research on the first topic and the field of [[biophysics]]. In 1946 Crick read [[Erwin Schrödinger]]'s book, ''[[What Is Life?]]'' and was influenced by it, and Linus Pauling, to switch from physics to biology.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Watson |first1=James D. |title=The double helix: a personal account of the discovery of the structure of DNA |last2=Stent |first2=Gunther S. |date=1998 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=978-0-684-85279-9 |edition=1st Scribner |location=New York}}</ref><ref name=CrickWMP18>[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], p. 18</ref> It was clear in theory that [[covalent bond]]s in biological molecules could provide the structural stability needed to hold [[genetics|genetic]] information in cells. It only remained as an exercise of experimental biology to discover exactly which molecule was the genetic molecule.<ref name="CrickWMPTalking">[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], p. 22</ref><ref name="Judson30">Page 30 of ''The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology'' by [[Horace Freeland Judson]] published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press (1996) {{ISBN|0-87969-478-5}}.</ref> In Crick's view, Charles Darwin's theory of [[evolution]] by [[natural selection]], [[Gregor Mendel]]'s genetics and knowledge of the molecular basis of genetics, when combined, revealed the secret of life.<ref name="CrickWMP25">[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], p. 25</ref> Crick had the very optimistic view that life would very soon be created in a test tube. However, some people (such as fellow researcher and colleague [[Esther Lederberg]]) thought that Crick was unduly optimistic.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.estherlederberg.com/Anecdotes.html#INTERVIEW |title=Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg: Anecdotes |publisher=Estherlederberg.com }}</ref>

It was clear that some [[macromolecule]] such as a [[protein]] was likely to be the genetic molecule.<ref name="CrickWMP32">[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], p. 32</ref> However, it was well known that proteins are structural and functional macromolecules, some of which carry out [[enzyme|enzymatic]] reactions of cells.<ref name="CrickWMP32"/> In the 1940s, some evidence had been found pointing to another macromolecule, DNA, the other major component of [[chromosome]]s, as a candidate genetic molecule. In the 1944 [[Avery-MacLeod-McCarty experiment]], [[Oswald Avery]] and his collaborators showed that a heritable [[phenotype|phenotypic]] difference could be caused in bacteria by providing them with a particular DNA molecule.<ref name="Judson30"/>

However, other evidence was interpreted as suggesting that DNA was structurally uninteresting and possibly just a molecular scaffold for the apparently more interesting protein molecules.<ref name="CrickWMP33">[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], pp. 33–34</ref> Crick was in the right place, in the right frame of mind, at the right time (1949), to join Max Perutz's project at the [[University of Cambridge]], and he began to work on the [[X-ray crystallography]] of proteins.<ref name="CrickWMPCH4">[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], Ch. 4</ref> X-ray crystallography theoretically offered the opportunity to reveal the molecular structure of large molecules like proteins and DNA, but there were serious technical problems then preventing X-ray crystallography from being applicable to such large molecules.<ref name="CrickWMPCH4"/>

===1949–1950===
Crick taught himself the mathematical theory of X-ray crystallography.<ref name=CrickWMP46>[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], p. 46: "there was no alternative but to teach X-ray diffraction to myself."</ref> During the period of Crick's study of [[X-ray]] [[diffraction]], researchers in the Cambridge lab were attempting to determine the most stable helical conformation of [[amino acid]] chains in proteins (the [[alpha helix]]). Linus Pauling was the first to identify<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Pauling L, Corey RB |title=Atomic Coordinates and Structure Factors for Two Helical Configurations of Polypeptide Chains |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=37 |issue=5 |pages=235–40 |date=May 1951 |pmid=14834145 |pmc=1063348 |doi=10.1073/pnas.37.5.235|bibcode = 1951PNAS...37..235P |url=http://authors.library.caltech.edu/10215/1/PAUpnas51g.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922115158/http://authors.library.caltech.edu/10215/1/PAUpnas51g.pdf |archive-date=2017-09-22 |url-status=live |doi-access=free }}</ref> the 3.6&nbsp;amino acids per helix turn ratio of the alpha helix. Crick was witness to the kinds of errors that his co-workers made in their failed attempts to make a correct molecular model of the alpha helix; these turned out to be important lessons that could be applied, in the future, to the helical structure of DNA. For example, he learned<ref name="CrickWMP58">[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], p. 58</ref> the importance of the structural rigidity that [[cis–trans isomerism|double bonds]] confer on molecular structures which is relevant both to [[peptide bond]]s in proteins and the structure of [[nucleotide]]s in DNA.

===1951–1953: DNA structure===
In 1951 and 1952, together with [[William Cochran (physicist)|William Cochran]] and Vladimir Vand, Crick assisted in the development of a mathematical theory of X-ray diffraction by a helical molecule.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1107/S0365110X52001635 |title=The structure of synthetic polypeptides. I. The transform of atoms on a helix |year=1952 |last1=Cochran |first1=W. |last2=Crick |first2=F. H. |last3=Vand |first3=V. |journal=Acta Crystallographica |volume=5 |pages=581–6|issue=5|url=http://journals.iucr.org/q/issues/1952/05/00/a00699/a00699.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010080525/http://journals.iucr.org/q/issues/1952/05/00/a00699/a00699.pdf |archive-date=2008-10-10 |url-status=live |doi-access=free |bibcode=1952AcCry...5..581C }}</ref> This theoretical result matched well with X-ray data for [[protein]]s that contain sequences of amino acids in the alpha helix conformation.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1038/169234a0 |url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/spotlight/sc |title=Evidence for the Pauling–Corey α-Helix in Synthetic Polypeptides |year=1952 |last1=Cochran |first1=W. |last2=Crick |first2=F. H. C. |journal=Nature |volume=169 |pages=234–235|bibcode = 1952Natur.169..234C |issue=4293|s2cid=4182175 }}</ref> Helical diffraction theory turned out to also be useful for understanding the structure of DNA.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

Late in 1951, Crick started working with James Watson at [[Cavendish Laboratory]] at the [[University of Cambridge]], England. Using "[[Photo 51]]" (the X-ray diffraction results of [[Rosalind Franklin]] and her graduate student [[Raymond Gosling]] of King's College London, given to them by Gosling and Franklin's colleague Wilkins), Watson and Crick together developed a model for a helical structure of DNA, which they published in 1953.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Watson JD, Crick FH |title=Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid |journal=Nature |volume=171 |issue=4356 |pages=737–8 |year=1953 |pmid=13054692 |doi=10.1038/171737a0|bibcode = 1953Natur.171..737W |title-link=Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid |s2cid=4253007 }}</ref> For this and subsequent work they were jointly awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] in 1962 with Wilkins.<ref>Francis Crick's 1962 [https://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureates/1962/crick-bio.html Biography from the Nobel foundation].</ref><ref name="Profile">{{cite web |title=James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, and Rosalind Franklin |url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/james-watson-francis-crick-maurice-wilkins-and-rosalind-franklin |publisher=Science History Institute |access-date=20 March 2018|date=June 2016 }}</ref>

When Watson came to Cambridge, Crick was a 35-year-old graduate student (due to his work during WWII) and Watson was only 23, but had already obtained a PhD. They shared an interest in the fundamental problem of learning how genetic information might be stored in molecular form.<ref name="CrickWMPgene">[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], p. 22: Crick traced his interest in the physical nature of the gene back to the start of his work in biology, when he was in the Strangeways laboratory.</ref><ref name="JudsonOnWatson">In ''The Eighth Day of Creation'', [[Horace Freeland Judson|Horace Judson]] describes the development of Watson's thinking about the physical nature of genes. On page 89, Judson explains that by the time Watson came to Cambridge, he believed genes were made of DNA and he hoped that he could use X-ray diffraction data to determine the structure.</ref> Watson and Crick talked endlessly about DNA and the idea that it might be possible to guess a good molecular model of its structure.<ref name="CrickWMPTalking"/> A key piece of experimentally-derived information came from X-ray diffraction images that had been obtained by Wilkins, Franklin, and Gosling. In November 1951, Wilkins came to Cambridge and shared his data with Watson and Crick. [[Alex Stokes|Alexander Stokes]] (another expert in helical diffraction theory) and Wilkins (both at King's College) had reached the conclusion that X-ray diffraction data for DNA indicated that the molecule had a helical structure—but Franklin vehemently disputed this conclusion. Stimulated by their discussions with Wilkins and what Watson learned by attending a talk given by Franklin about her work on DNA, Crick and Watson produced and showed off an erroneous first model of DNA. Their hurry to produce a model of DNA structure was driven in part by the knowledge that they were competing against Linus Pauling. Given Pauling's recent success in discovering the Alpha helix, they feared that Pauling might also be the first to determine the structure of DNA.<ref name="WatsonOnPauling">Page 90, In ''The Eighth Day of Creation'' by Horace Judson.</ref>

Many have speculated about what might have happened had Pauling been able to travel to Britain as planned in May 1952.<ref name="OSUraceforDNA">{{cite web|title=Linus Pauling and the Race for DNA: A Documentary History|date=26 November 2024 |url=http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/dna/narrative/page13.html |publisher=Special Collections, The Valley Library, Oregon State University.}}</ref> As it was, his political activities caused his travel to be restricted by the [[United States government]] and he did not visit the UK until later, at which point he met none of the DNA researchers in England. At any rate he was preoccupied with proteins at the time, not DNA.<ref name="OSUraceforDNA" /><ref name="JudsonOnPauling">Chapter 3 in ''The Eighth Day of Creation'' by Horace Judson.</ref> Watson and Crick were not officially working on DNA. Crick was writing his PhD thesis; Watson also had other work such as trying to obtain crystals of [[myoglobin]] for X-ray diffraction experiments. In 1952, Watson performed X-ray diffraction on [[tobacco mosaic virus]] and found results indicating that it had helical structure. Having failed once, Watson and Crick were now somewhat reluctant to try again and for a while they were forbidden to make further efforts to find a molecular model of DNA.

[[File:DNA Structure.jpg|thumb|right|Diagram that emphasises the phosphate backbone of DNA. Watson and Crick first made helical models with the phosphates at the centre of the helices.]]
Of great importance to the model building effort of Watson and Crick was Rosalind Franklin's understanding of basic chemistry, which indicated that the [[hydrophilic]] [[phosphate]]-containing backbones of the nucleotide chains of DNA should be positioned so as to interact with [[water (molecule)|water molecules]] on the outside of the molecule while the [[hydrophobic]] bases should be packed into the core. Franklin shared this chemical knowledge with Watson and Crick when she pointed out to them that their first model (from 1951, with the phosphates inside) was obviously wrong.

Crick described what he saw as the failure of Wilkins and Franklin to cooperate and work towards finding a molecular model of DNA as a major reason why he and Watson eventually made a second attempt to do so. They asked for, and received, permission to do so from both William Lawrence Bragg and Wilkins. To construct their model of DNA, Watson and Crick made use of information from unpublished X-ray diffraction images of Franklin's (shown at meetings and freely shared by Wilkins), including preliminary accounts of Franklin's results/photographs of the X-ray images that were included in a written progress report for the King's College laboratory of Sir John Randall from late 1952.

It is a matter of debate whether Watson and Crick should have had access to Franklin's results without her knowledge or permission, and before she had a chance to [[academic publishing|formally publish]] the results of her detailed analysis of her X-ray diffraction data which were included in the progress report. However, Watson and Crick found fault in her steadfast assertion that, according to her data, a helical structure was not the only possible shape for DNA—so they had a dilemma. In an effort to clarify this issue, Max Ferdinand Perutz later published what had been in the progress report,<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Perutz MF, Randall JT, Thomson L, Wilkins MH, Watson JD |title=DNA helix |journal=Science |volume=164 |issue=3887 |pages=1537–9 |date=June 1969 |pmid=5796048 |doi=10.1126/science.164.3887.1537|bibcode = 1969Sci...164.1537W |doi-access= |s2cid=5263958 }}</ref> and suggested that nothing was in the report that Franklin herself had not said in her talk (attended by Watson) in late 1951. Perutz explained that the report was to a Medical Research Council (MRC) committee that had been created to "establish contact between the different groups of people working for the Council". Randall's and Perutz's laboratories were both funded by the MRC.

It is also not clear how important Franklin's unpublished results from the progress report actually were for the model-building done by Watson and Crick. After the first crude X-ray diffraction images of DNA were collected in the 1930s, [[William Astbury]] had talked about stacks of nucleotides spaced at 3.4 angström (0.34 nanometre) intervals in DNA. A citation to Astbury's earlier X-ray diffraction work was one of only eight references in Franklin's first paper on DNA.<ref>Franklin's citation to the earlier work of W. T. Astbury is in:<br />{{Cite journal|vauthors=Franklin RE, Gosling RG |title=Molecular configuration in sodium thymonucleate |journal=Nature |volume=171 |issue=4356 |pages=740–1 |year=1953 |pmid=13054694 |doi=10.1038/171740a0 |url=https://www.nature.com/nature/dna50/franklingosling.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040610083152/http://www.nature.com/nature/dna50/franklingosling.pdf |archive-date=2004-06-10 |url-status=live |format=PDF reprint|bibcode = 1953Natur.171..740F |s2cid=4268222 }}</ref> Analysis of Astbury's published DNA results and the better X-ray diffraction images collected by Wilkins and Franklin revealed the helical nature of DNA. It was possible to predict the number of bases stacked within a single turn of the DNA helix (10 per turn; a full turn of the helix is 27 angströms [2.7&nbsp;nm] in the compact A form, 34 angströms [3.4&nbsp;nm] in the wetter B form). Wilkins shared this information about the B form of DNA with Crick and Watson. Crick did not see Franklin's B form X-ray images ([[Photo 51]]) until after the DNA double helix model was published.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Crick F |title=The double helix: a personal view |journal=Nature |volume=248 |issue=5451 |pages=766–9 |year=1974|pmid=4599081 |doi=10.1038/248766a0|bibcode = 1974Natur.248..766C |s2cid=4224441 }}</ref>

One of the few references cited by Watson and Crick when they published their model of DNA was to a published article that included Sven Furberg's DNA model that had the bases on the inside. Thus, the Watson and Crick model was not the first "bases in" model to be proposed. Furberg's results had also provided the correct orientation of the DNA sugars with respect to the bases. During their model building, Crick and Watson learned that an [[antiparallel (biochemistry)|antiparallel]] orientation of the two nucleotide chain backbones worked best to orient the [[base pair]]s in the centre of a double helix. Crick's access to Franklin's progress report of late 1952 is what made Crick confident that DNA was a double helix with antiparallel chains, but there were other chains of reasoning and sources of information that also led to these conclusions.<ref name="JudsonCh3modeling">In chapter 3 of ''The Eighth Day of Creation'', [[Horace Freeland Judson|Horace Judson]] describes the development of [[James Watson|Watson]]'s and Crick's thinking about the structure of DNA and how it evolved during their model building. Watson and Crick were open to the idea of tentatively ignoring all individual experimental results, in case they might be wrong or misleading. Judson describes how Watson spent a large amount of time ''ignoring'' Crick's belief (based on Franklin's determination of the space group) that the two backbone strands were antiparallel. On page 176, Judson quotes a letter written by Watson, "The model has been derived almost entirely from stereochemical considerations with the only X-ray consideration being the spacing between the pair of bases 3.4 A which was originally found by Astbury."</ref>

As a result of leaving King's College for [[Birkbeck College]], Franklin was asked by John Randall to give up her work on DNA. When it became clear to Wilkins and the supervisors of Watson and Crick that Franklin was going to the new job, and that Linus Pauling was working on the structure of DNA, they were willing to share Franklin's data with Watson and Crick, in the hope that they could find a good model of DNA before Pauling was able. Franklin's X-ray diffraction data for DNA and her systematic analysis of DNA's structural features were useful to Watson and Crick in guiding them towards a correct molecular model. The key problem for Watson and Crick, which could not be resolved by the data from King's College, was to guess how the nucleotide bases pack into the core of the DNA double helix.

[[File:DNA chemical structure.svg|thumb|right|Diagrammatic representation of some key structural features of DNA. The similar structures of [[guanine]]:[[cytosine]] and [[adenine]]:[[thymine]] base pairs is illustrated. The base pairs are held together by [[hydrogen bond]]s. The phosphate backbones are [[antiparallel (biochemistry)|anti-parallel]].]]
Another key to finding the correct structure of DNA was the so-called [[Chargaff's rules|Chargaff ratios]], experimentally determined ratios of the nucleotide subunits of DNA: the amount of [[guanine]] is equal to [[cytosine]] and the amount of [[adenine]] is equal to [[thymine]]. A visit by [[Erwin Chargaff]] to England, in 1952, reinforced the salience of this important fact for Watson and Crick.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}} The significance of these ratios for the structure of DNA were not recognised until Watson, persisting in building structural models, realised that A:T and C:G pairs are structurally similar. In particular, the length of each base pair is the same. Chargaff had also pointed out to Watson that, in the aqueous, saline environment of the cell, the predominant tautomers of the pyrimidine (C and T) bases would be the amine and keto configurations of cytosine and thymine, rather than the imino and enol forms that Crick and Watson had assumed. They consulted [[Jerry Donohue]] who confirmed the most likely structures of the nucleotide bases.<ref>See Chapter 3 of ''The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology'' by Horace Freeland Judson published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press (1996) {{ISBN|0-87969-478-5}}. Judson also lists the publications of W. T. Astbury that described his early X-ray diffraction results for DNA.</ref> The base pairs are held together by [[hydrogen bond]]s, the same non-covalent interaction that stabilise the protein α-helix. The correct structures were essential for the positioning of the hydrogen bonds. These insights led Watson to deduce the true biological relationships of the A:T and C:G pairs. After the discovery of the hydrogen bonded A:T and C:G pairs, Watson and Crick soon had their anti-parallel, double helical model of DNA, with the hydrogen bonds at the core of the helix providing a way to "unzip" the two complementary strands for easy [[DNA replication|replication]]: the last key requirement for a likely model of the genetic molecule. As important as Crick's contributions to the discovery of the double helical DNA model were, he stated that without the chance to collaborate with Watson, he would not have found the structure by himself.<ref name="WMP75">[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], p. 75: "If Jim had been killed by a tennis ball, I am reasonably sure I would not have solved the structure alone".</ref>

Crick did tentatively attempt to perform some experiments on nucleotide base pairing, but he was more of a theoretical biologist than an experimental biologist. There was another near-discovery of the base pairing rules in early 1952. Crick had started to think about interactions between the bases. He asked [[John Stanley Griffith|John Griffith]] to try to calculate attractive interactions between the DNA bases from chemical principles and [[quantum mechanics]]. Griffith's best guess was that A:T and G:C were attractive pairs. At that time, Crick was not aware of Chargaff's rules and he made little of Griffith's calculations, although it did start him thinking about complementary replication. Identification of the correct base-pairing rules (A-T, G-C) was achieved by Watson "playing" with cardboard cut-out models of the nucleotide bases, much in the manner that Linus Pauling had discovered the protein alpha helix a few years earlier. The Watson and Crick discovery of the DNA double helix structure was made possible by their willingness to combine theory, modelling and experimental results (albeit mostly done by others) to achieve their goal.

The DNA double helix structure proposed by Watson and Crick was based upon "Watson-Crick" bonds between the four bases most frequently found in DNA (A, C, T, G) and RNA (A, C, U, G). However, later research showed that triple-stranded, quadruple-stranded and other more complex DNA molecular structures required [[Hoogsteen base pair]]ing.

In the field of [[synthetic biology]], bases other than A, C, T and G are used in a synthetic DNA. In addition to synthetic DNA there are also attempts to construct synthetic [[codons]], synthetic [[endonucleases]], synthetic proteins and synthetic [[zinc fingers]]. Using synthetic DNA, instead of there being 4<sup>3</sup> codons, if there are ''n'' new bases there could be as many as ''n''<sup>3</sup> codons. Research is currently being done to see if codons can be expanded to more than 3 bases. These new codons can code for new amino acids. These synthetic molecules can be used not only in medicine, but in creation of new materials.<ref name="Simon, Matthew 2005">Simon, Matthew (2005) ''Emergent Computation: emphasizing bioinformatics''. Springer. {{ISBN|0-387-22046-1}}.</ref>

The discovery was made on 28 February 1953; the first Watson/Crick paper appeared in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' on 25 April 1953. Sir Lawrence Bragg, the director of the [[Cavendish Laboratory]], where Watson and Crick worked, gave a talk at [[Guy's Hospital]] Medical School in London on Thursday 14 May 1953 which resulted in an article by Ritchie Calder in the ''[[News Chronicle]]'' of London, on Friday 15 May 1953, entitled "Why You Are You. Nearer Secret of Life." The news reached readers of ''[[The New York Times]]'' the next day; [[Victor K. McElheny]], in researching his biography, "Watson and DNA: Making a Scientific Revolution", found a clipping of a six-paragraph ''New York Times'' article written from London and dated 16 May 1953 with the headline "Form of 'Life Unit' in Cell Is Scanned". The article ran in an early edition and was then pulled to make space for news deemed more important. (''The New York Times'' subsequently ran a longer article on 12 June 1953). The university's undergraduate newspaper ''[[Varsity (Cambridge)|Varsity]]'' also ran its own short article on the discovery on Saturday 30 May 1953. Bragg's original announcement of the discovery at a [[Solvay conference]] on [[proteins]] in Belgium on 8 April 1953 went unreported by the British press.

In a seven-page, handwritten letter<ref>[http://news.msn.com/science-technology/letter-from-dna-discoverer-to-young-son-to-be-auctioned Letter from DNA discoverer to young son to be auctioned] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130327010122/http://news.msn.com/science-technology/letter-from-dna-discoverer-to-young-son-to-be-auctioned |date=27 March 2013 }}. MSN. Retrieved 21 November 2013.</ref> to his son at a British boarding school on 19 March 1953 Crick explained his discovery, beginning the letter "My Dear Michael, Jim Watson and I have probably made a most important discovery".<ref name="sonletter">[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/02/26/science/crick-letter-on-dna-discovery.html My Dear Michael, We've Discovered DNA]. Crick's letter transcribed at ''The New York Times''. 26 February 2013</ref> The letter was put up for auction at [[Christie's]] New York on 10 April 2013 with an estimate of $1 to $2&nbsp;million, eventually selling for $6,059,750, the largest amount ever paid for a letter at auction.<ref name="letterauction">[http://www.christies.com/about/press-center/releases/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=6195 "The 'Secret of Life' Letter to Be Sold at Christie's On April 10: Remarkable Letter from Francis Crick to His Son, Outlining the Revolutionary Discovery of the Structure and Function of DNA Estimate: $1–2 million"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129093523/http://www.christies.com/about/press-center/releases/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=6195 |date=29 November 2014 }}. [[Christie's]]. New York, Rockefeller Center. 26 February 2013</ref>

[[Sydney Brenner]], [[Jack D. Dunitz|Jack Dunitz]], [[Dorothy Hodgkin]], [[Leslie Orgel]], and Beryl M Oughton, were some of the first people in April 1953 to see the model of the structure of [[DNA]], constructed by Crick and Watson; at the time they were working at [[University of Oxford|Oxford University]]'s Chemistry Department. All were impressed by the new DNA model, especially Brenner who subsequently worked with Crick at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] in the Cavendish Laboratory and the new [[Laboratory of Molecular Biology]]. According to the late Dr. Beryl Oughton, later Rimmer, they all travelled together in two cars once Dorothy Hodgkin announced to them that they were off to Cambridge to see the model of the structure of DNA.<ref>[[#Olby|Olby]], Ch. 10, p. 181</ref> Orgel also later worked with Crick at the [[Salk Institute for Biological Studies]].

Crick was often described as very talkative, with Watson – in ''The Double Helix'' – implying lack of modesty.<ref>Watson's book ''The Double Helix'' painted a vivid image of Crick, starting with the famous line, "I have never seen Francis Crick in a modest mood." The first chapter of [[Horace Freeland Judson|Horace Judson]]'s book ''The Eighth Day of Creation'' describes the importance of Crick's talking and his boldness in his scientific style.</ref> His personality combined with his scientific accomplishments produced many opportunities for Crick to stimulate reactions from others, both inside and outside the scientific world, which was the centre of his intellectual and professional life.<ref>Describing Crick's influence on his scientific colleagues, Francis Crick Papers archivist Chris Beckett wrote of the importance of "Crick's presence and eloquence&nbsp;—direct and beguiling, by all accounts in the archive— at conference after conference, through formal lectures, extempore summaries, informal meetings and individual conversations. Indeed, one has the impression that it was through these frequent persuasive moments of personal delivery and purposive conversations that Crick was most influential."<br />{{Cite journal |author=Beckett C |year=2004 |title=For the Record: The Francis Crick Archive at the Wellcome Library |journal=Med Hist |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=245–60 |doi=10.1017/S0025727300007419 |pmc=546341 |pmid=15151106}} Also described as an example of Crick's wide recognition and public profile are some of the times Crick was addressed as "Sir Francis Crick" with the assumption that someone so famous must have been knighted.</ref> Crick spoke rapidly, and rather loudly, and had an infectious and reverberating laugh, and a lively sense of humour. One colleague from the Salk Institute described him as "a brainstorming intellectual powerhouse with a mischievous smile.&nbsp;... Francis was never mean-spirited, just incisive. He detected microscopic flaws in logic. In a room full of smart scientists, Francis continually re-earned his position as the heavyweight champ."<ref>[[David Eagleman|Eagleman, D.M.]] (2005). [http://neuro.bcm.edu/eagleman/papers/Eagleman_Crick_VisionResearch2005.pdf Obituary: Francis H. C. Crick (1916–2004).] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926121041/http://neuro.bcm.edu/eagleman/papers/Eagleman_Crick_VisionResearch2005.pdf|date=26 September 2007}} ''Vision Research''. 45: 391–393.</ref>

[[File:DNA Model Crick-Watson.jpg|thumb|right|Crick and Watson DNA model built in 1953 was reconstructed largely from its original pieces in 1973 and donated to the [[Science Museum (London)|National Science Museum]] in London.]]

Soon after Crick's death, there have been allegations about him having used [[Lysergic acid diethylamide|LSD]] when he came to the idea of the helix structure of the DNA.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/11/science/11book.html|title=A Peek into the Remarkable Mind Behind the Genetic Code|first=Nicholas|last=Wade|date=11 July 2006|work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mayanmajix.com/art1699.html|title=Nobel Prize genius Crick was high on LSD|website=mayanmajix.com}}</ref> While he almost certainly did use LSD, it is unlikely that he did so as early as 1953.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://realitysandwich.com/314873/francis-crick-dna-lsd/|title=Francis Crick, DNA & LSD – Reality Sandwich|website=realitysandwich.com|date=4 May 2015}}</ref>

===Molecular biology===
In 1954, at the age of 37, Crick completed his PhD thesis: "''X-Ray Diffraction: Polypeptides and Proteins''" and received his degree. Crick then worked in the laboratory of [[David Harker]] at [[Polytechnic University of New York|Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute]], where he continued to develop his skills in the analysis of [[X-ray crystallography|X-ray diffraction]] data for proteins, working primarily on [[ribonuclease]] and the mechanisms of [[protein synthesis]]. David Harker, the American X-ray crystallographer, was described as "the John Wayne of crystallography" by Vittorio Luzzati, a crystallographer at the Centre for Molecular Genetics in Gif-sur-Yvette near Paris, who had worked with Rosalind Franklin.{{citation needed|date=March 2015}}

After the discovery of the double helix model of DNA, Crick's interests quickly turned to the biological implications of the structure. In 1953, Watson and Crick published another article in ''Nature'' which stated: "it therefore seems likely that the precise sequence of the bases is the code that carries the genetical information".<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Watson JD, Crick FH |title=Genetical implications of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid |journal=Nature |volume=171 |issue=4361 |pages=964–7 |date=May 1953 |pmid=13063483 |doi= 10.1038/171964b0|url= https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/B/Y/X/_/scbbyx.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050912214219/http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/B/Y/X/_/scbbyx.pdf |archive-date=2005-09-12 |url-status=dead |format=PDF reprint|bibcode = 1953Natur.171..964W |s2cid=4256010 }}</ref>

[[File:Collagentriplehelix.png|thumb|left|99px|Collagen triple helix]]

In 1956, Crick and Watson speculated on the structure of small viruses. They suggested that spherical viruses such as [[Tomato bushy stunt virus]] had icosahedral symmetry and were made from 60 identical subunits.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Morgan GJ |title=Historical review: viruses, crystals and geodesic domes |journal=Trends in Biochemical Sciences |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=86–90 |date=February 2003 |pmid=12575996 |doi=10.1016/S0968-0004(02)00007-5|doi-access=free }}</ref>

After his short time in New York, Crick returned to Cambridge where he worked until 1976, at which time he moved to California. Crick engaged in several X-ray diffraction collaborations such as one with [[Alexander Rich]] on the structure of [[collagen]].<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Rich A, Crick FH |title=The structure of collagen |journal=Nature |volume=176 |issue=4489 |pages=915–6 |date=November 1955 |pmid=13272717 |doi= 10.1038/176915a0|url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/B/Z/L/_/scbbzl.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050912214247/http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/B/Z/L/_/scbbzl.pdf |archive-date=2005-09-12 |url-status=dead |format=PDF reprint|bibcode = 1955Natur.176..915R |s2cid=9611917 }}</ref> However, Crick was quickly drifting away from continued work related to his expertise in the interpretation of X-ray diffraction patterns of proteins.

[[George Gamow]] established a group of scientists interested in the role of [[RNA]] as an intermediary between DNA as the genetic storage molecule in the [[nucleus (cell)|nucleus]] of cells and the synthesis of proteins in the [[cytoplasm]] (the [[RNA Tie Club]]). It was clear to Crick that there had to be a code by which a short sequence of nucleotides would specify a particular [[amino acid]] in a newly synthesised protein. In 1956, Crick wrote an informal paper about the [[genetic code|genetic coding]] problem for the small group of scientists in Gamow's RNA group.<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20050428235556/http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/B/G/F/_/scbbgf.pdf On Degenerate Templates and the Adaptor Hypothesis: A Note for the RNA Tie Club]" by Francis Crick (1956).</ref> In this article, Crick reviewed the evidence supporting the idea that there was a common set of about 20 amino acids used to synthesise proteins. Crick proposed that there was a corresponding set of small "adaptor molecules" that would [[hydrogen bond]] to short sequences of a nucleic acid, and also link to one of the amino acids. He also explored the many theoretical possibilities by which short nucleic acid sequences might code for the 20 amino acids.

[[File:3d tRNA.png|thumb|right|Molecular model of a [[tRNA]] molecule.{{citation needed|date=October 2011}} Crick predicted that such adaptor molecules might exist as the links between [[codon]]s and [[amino acid]]s.]]
During the mid-to-late 1950s Crick was very much intellectually engaged in sorting out the mystery of how proteins are synthesised. By 1958, Crick's thinking had matured and he could list in an orderly way all of the key features of the protein synthesis process:<ref name="auto"/>
* genetic information stored in the sequence of DNA molecules
* a "messenger" RNA molecule to carry the instructions for making one protein to the cytoplasm
* adaptor molecules ("they might contain nucleotides") to match short sequences of nucleotides in the RNA messenger molecules to specific amino acids
* ribonucleic-protein complexes that catalyse the assembly of amino acids into proteins according to the messenger RNA

The adaptor molecules were eventually shown to be [[tRNA]]s and the catalytic "ribonucleic-protein complexes" became known as [[ribosome]]s. An important step was the realisation by Crick and Brenner on 15 April 1960 during a conversation with [[François Jacob]] that [[messenger RNA]] was not the same thing as [[ribosomal RNA]].<ref name="Cobb">{{cite journal |author-link1=Matthew Cobb |vauthors=Cobb M |date=29 June 2015 |title=Who discovered messenger RNA? |journal=Current Biology |volume=25 |issue=13 |pages=R526–R532 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2015.05.032 |pmid=26126273 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2015CBio...25.R526C }}</ref> Later that summer, Brenner, Jacob, and [[Matthew Meselson]] conducted an experiment which was the first to prove the existence of messenger RNA.<ref name="Cobb" /> None of this, however, answered the fundamental theoretical question of the exact nature of the genetic code. In his 1958 article, Crick speculated, as had others, that a triplet of nucleotides could code for an amino acid. Such a code might be "degenerate", with 4×4×4=64 possible triplets of the four nucleotide subunits while there were only 20 amino acids. Some amino acids might have multiple triplet codes. Crick also explored other codes in which, for various reasons, only some of the triplets were used, "magically" producing just the 20 needed combinations.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hayes|first1=Brian|journal=American Scientist|year=1998|access-date=11 January 2017|url=http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/the-invention-of-the-genetic-code|title=The Invention of the Genetic Code|volume=86|pages=8|doi=10.1511/1998.17.3338|s2cid=121907709 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Experimental results were needed; theory alone could not decide the nature of the code. Crick also used the term "[[central dogma of molecular biology|central dogma]]" to summarise an idea that implies that genetic information flow between macromolecules would be essentially one-way:

:'''DNA → RNA → protein'''

Some critics thought that by using the word "dogma", Crick was implying that this was a rule that could not be questioned, but all he really meant was that it was a compelling idea without much solid evidence to support it. In his thinking about the biological processes linking DNA genes to proteins, Crick made explicit the distinction between the materials involved, the energy required, and the information flow. Crick was focused on this third component (information) and it became the organising principle of what became known as molecular biology. Crick had by this time become a highly influential theoretical molecular biologist.

Proof that the genetic code is a degenerate triplet code finally came from genetics experiments, some of which were performed by Crick.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Crick FH, Barnett L, Brenner S, Watts-Tobin RJ |title=General nature of the genetic code for proteins |journal=Nature |volume=192 |issue= 4809|pages=1227–32 |date=December 1961 |pmid=13882203 |doi= 10.1038/1921227a0|url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/C/B/J/_/scbcbj.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050912214328/http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/C/B/J/_/scbcbj.pdf |archive-date=2005-09-12 |url-status=dead |format=PDF reprint|bibcode = 1961Natur.192.1227C |s2cid=4276146 }}</ref> The details of the code came mostly from work by [[Marshall Warren Nirenberg|Marshall Nirenberg]] and others who synthesised synthetic RNA molecules and used them as templates for ''[[in vitro]]'' protein synthesis.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Crick FH |title=The Croonian lecture, 1966. The genetic code |journal=Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. |volume=167 |issue=9 |pages=331–47 |year=1967 |pmid=4382798 |doi= 10.1098/rspb.1967.0031|url= https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/C/B/X/_/scbcbx.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050912214319/http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/C/B/X/_/scbcbx.pdf |archive-date=2005-09-12 |url-status=dead |format=PDF reprint|bibcode = 1967RSPSB.167..331C |s2cid=11131727 }}</ref> Nirenberg first announced his results to a small audience in Moscow at a 1961 conference. Crick's reaction was to invite Nirenberg to deliver his talk to a larger audience.<ref name=NautilusGoldstein>{{cite web |url=https://nautil.us/issue/72/quandary/the-thrill-of-defeat-rp |title=The Thrill of Defeat: What Francis Crick and Sydney Brenner taught me about being scooped |last=Goldstein |first=Bob |date=30 May 2019 |publisher=Nautilus |access-date=21 January 2021 |archive-date=10 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211210101407/https://nautil.us/issue/72/quandary/the-thrill-of-defeat-rp |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Controversy==
===Use of other researchers' data===
Watson and Crick's use of [[Photo 51|DNA X-ray diffraction data]] collected by Franklin and Wilkins has generated an enduring controversy. It arose from the fact that some of Franklin's unpublished data were used without her knowledge or consent by Watson and Crick in their construction of the double helix model of DNA.<ref name="Profile"/><ref name="Judson">Judson, H.F. 1996. ''The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology''. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, chapter 3. {{ISBN|0-87969-478-5}}.</ref> Of the four DNA researchers, only Franklin had a degree in chemistry;<ref name="Profile"/> Wilkins and Crick had backgrounds in physics, Watson in biology.

[[File:Experimental setup of Photo 51.svg|thumb|Experimental set up of photo 51<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dr Rosalind Franklin and Photo 51 © Robin Stott |url=https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3258777 |access-date=2024-04-23 |website=www.geograph.org.uk}}</ref>]]

Prior to publication of the double helix structure, Watson and Crick had little direct interaction with Franklin herself. They were, however, aware of her work, more aware than she herself realised. Watson was present at a lecture, given in November 1951, where Franklin presented the two forms of the molecule, type A and type B, and discussed the position of the phosphate units on the external part of the molecule. In January 1953, Watson was shown an X-ray photograph of B-DNA (called [[Photo 51|photograph 51]]),<ref>[[#Maddox|Maddox]], pp. 177–178</ref> by Wilkins.<ref name="Maddox">[[#Maddox|Maddox]], p. 196</ref><ref>[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], p. 67</ref> Wilkins had been given photograph 51 by Rosalind Franklin's PhD student Raymond Gosling.<ref name="Maddox" /><ref>[[#Wilkins|Wilkins]], p. 198</ref> Wilkins and Gosling had worked together in the Medical Research Council's (MRC) Biophysics Unit before director John Randall appointed Franklin to take over both DNA diffraction work and guidance of Gosling's thesis. It appears that Randall did not communicate effectively with them about Franklin's appointment, contributing to confusion and friction between Wilkins and Franklin.<ref>Sayre, Olby, Maddox, Elkin, Wilkins</ref> In the middle of February 1953, Crick's thesis advisor, Max Perutz, gave Crick [[King's College London DNA Controversy|a copy of a report]] written for a Medical Research Council biophysics committee visit to King's in December 1952, containing data from the King's group, including some of Franklin's crystallographic calculations.<ref>{{cite book |author=Hubbard, Ruth |url=https://archive.org/details/politicsofwomens00hubb |title=The Politics of Women's Biology |date=1990 |publisher=Rutgers State University |isbn=0-8135-1490-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/politicsofwomens00hubb/page/60 60] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="JudsonCh3">Chapter 3 of ''The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology'' by Horace Freeland Judson published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press (1996) {{ISBN|0-87969-478-5}}.</ref><ref>Elkin, L.O. (2003)p 44</ref><ref>[[Francis Crick#Maddox|Maddox]], pp. 198–199</ref> Franklin was unaware that photograph 51 and other information had been shared with Crick and Watson. She wrote a series of three draft manuscripts, two of which included a double helical DNA backbone. Her two manuscripts on form A DNA reached ''[[Acta Crystallographica]]'' in Copenhagen on 6 March 1953,<ref>Franklin, R.E. and Gosling, R.G. authors of papers received 6 March 1953 Acta Crystallogr. (1953). 6, 673 The Structure of Sodium Thymonucleate Fibres I. The Influence of Water Content Acta Crystallogr. (1953). 6, 678 The Structure of Sodium Thymonucleate Fibres II. The Cylindrically Symmetrical Patterson Function</ref> one day before Crick and Watson had completed their model.<ref>[[#Maddox|Maddox]], p. 205</ref>

The X-ray diffraction images collected by Gosling and Franklin provided the best evidence for the helical nature of DNA. Before this, both Linus Pauling, Watson, and Crick had generated erroneous models with the chains inside and the bases pointing outwards.<ref name="ReferenceA">Schwartz, James (2008) [http://www.evolbiol.ru/large_files/darwin_dna.pdf ''In Pursuit of the Gene. From Darwin to DNA'']. Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|0674034910}}.</ref> Her experimental results provided estimates of the water content of DNA crystals, and these results were most consistent with the three sugar-phosphate backbones being on the outside of the molecule.<ref>[[#Wilkins|Wilkins]] provides a detailed account of the fact that Franklin's results were interpreted as most likely indicated three, and possibly four, polynucleotide strands in the DNA molecule.</ref> Franklin's X-Ray photograph showed that the backbones had to be on the outside. Although she at first insisted vehemently that her data did not force one to conclude that DNA has a helical structure, in the drafts she submitted in 1953 she argues for a double helical DNA backbone.<ref name="PBS">{{cite web |date=2003-04-22 |title=Rosalind Franklin's Legacy |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/rosalind-franklin-legacy/ |access-date=2025-11-18 |work=[[PBS]]}}</ref> Building on her manuscripts, she discovered that form A DNA had antiparallel backbones, which supported the double helical structure of DNA.<ref name="PBS" /> She did this through identification of the [[space group]] for DNA crystals. This would go to help Watson and Crick decide to look for DNA models with two antiparallel polynucleotide strands.

In summary, Watson and Crick had three sources for Franklin's unpublished data: 1) her 1951 seminar, attended by Watson,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cullen |first=Katherine E.|title=Biology: the people behind the science |date=2006 |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing|Chelsea House]] |location=New York |isbn=0-8160-5461-4 |page=136}}</ref> 2) discussions with Wilkins,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cullen |first=Katherine E. |title=Biology: the people behind the science |date=2006 |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing|Chelsea House]] |location=New York |isbn=0-8160-5461-4 |page=140}}</ref> who worked in the same laboratory with Franklin, 3) a research progress report that was intended to promote coordination of Medical Research Council-supported laboratories.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Stocklmayer |first1=Susan M. |author-link1=Susan Stocklmayer |last2=Gore |first2=Michael M. |last3=Brtyant |first3=Chris |title=Science Communication in Theory and Practice |date=2001 |publisher=[[Wolters Kluwer|Kluwer Academic Publishers]] |isbn=1-4020-0131-2 |page=79}}</ref> Watson, Crick, Wilkins and Franklin all worked in MRC laboratories.

Crick and Watson felt that they had benefited from collaborating with Wilkins. They offered him a co-authorship on the article that first described the double helix structure of DNA. Wilkins turned down the offer, a fact that may have led to the terse character of the acknowledgement of experimental work done at King's College in the eventual published paper. Rather than make any of the DNA researchers at King's College co-authors on the Watson and Crick double helix article, the solution that was arrived at was to publish two additional papers from King's College along with the helix paper. [[Brenda Maddox]] suggests that because of the importance of her experimental results in Watson and Crick's model building and theoretical analysis, Franklin should have had her name on the original Watson and Crick paper in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]''.<ref name="MaddoxDLD">[[#Maddox|Maddox]]</ref> Franklin and Gosling submitted their own joint "second" paper to ''Nature'' at the same time as Wilkins, Stokes, and Wilson submitted theirs (i.e. the "third" paper on DNA).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ferry |first=Georgina |date=November 2019 |title=The structure of DNA |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02554-z |journal=Nature |volume=575 |issue=7781 |pages=35–36 |doi=10.1038/d41586-019-02554-z|pmid=31686042 |bibcode=2019Natur.575...35F |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Watson's portrayal of Franklin in ''[[The Double Helix]]'' was negative and gave the appearance that she was Wilkins' assistant and was unable to interpret her own DNA data.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Elkin | first1 = L. O. | title = Rosalind Franklin and the Double Helix | doi = 10.1063/1.1570771 | journal = Physics Today | volume = 56 | issue = 3 | pages = 42–48 | year = 2003 |bibcode = 2003PhT....56c..42E | doi-access = free }}</ref> However, according to [[Nathaniel C. Comfort]], a historian of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, Franklin's colleague Aaron Klug believed that Franklin "..was 'two steps away' from the double helix. After completing an analysis of her lab notebook, Klug stated that she surely would have had it.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-25 |title=Rosalind Franklin's Overlooked Role in the Discovery of DNA's Structure |url=https://www.history.com/news/rosalind-franklin-dna-discovery |access-date=2024-04-07 |website=HISTORY }}</ref>

The X-ray diffraction images collected by Franklin provided the best evidence for the helical nature of DNA. While Franklin's experimental work proved important to Crick and Watson's development of a correct model, she herself could not realise it at the time. When she left King's College, Director Sir John Randall insisted that all DNA work belonged exclusively to King's and ordered Franklin to not even think about it.<ref>[[#Maddox|Maddox]], p. 312,</ref> Because of this, the scientific community did not understand the depth of Franklin's contributions. Franklin subsequently did superb work in J. D. Bernal's Lab at Birkbeck College with the tobacco mosaic virus, which also extended ideas on helical construction.<ref name="Profile" />

===Eugenics===
Crick occasionally expressed his views on [[eugenics]], usually in private letters. For example, Crick advocated a form of [[Assisted reproductive technology|positive eugenics]] in which wealthy parents would be encouraged to have more children.<ref>[[#Ridley|Ridley]]</ref> He once remarked, "In the long run, it is unavoidable that society will begin to worry about the character of the next generation&nbsp;... It is not a subject at the moment which we can tackle easily because people have so many religious beliefs and until we have a more uniform view of ourselves I think it would be risky to try and do anything in the way of eugenics&nbsp;... I would be astonished if, in the next 100 or 200&nbsp;years, society did not come round to the view that they would have to try to improve the next generation in some extent or one way or another."

===Sexual harassment===
Biologist [[Nancy Hopkins (scientist)|Nancy Hopkins]] says when she was an undergraduate in the 1960s, Crick put his hands on her breasts during a lab visit.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Alicia Chen |url=https://www.browndailyherald.com/2009/10/22/women-in-the-sciences-still-struggle-hopkins-says/ |title=Women in the sciences still struggle, Hopkins says |publisher=Brown Daily Herald |date=22 October 2009 |access-date=17 June 2020}}</ref> She described the incident: "Before I could rise and shake hands, he had zoomed across the room, stood behind me, put his hands on my breasts and said, 'What are you working on?{{'"}}<ref>{{cite web|author1=Laura Hoopes |title=Nancy Hopkins' Keynote Speech Shockers |url=https://www.nature.com/scitable/forums/women-in-science/nancy-hopkins-keynote-speech-shockers-19135206/ |publisher=Scitable by Nature Education|date=1 April 2011 |access-date=17 June 2020}}</ref>

==Views on religion==
Crick referred to himself as a humanist, which he defined as the belief "that human problems can and must be faced in terms of human moral and intellectual resources without invoking supernatural authority." He publicly called for humanism to replace religion as a guiding force for humanity, writing:

<blockquote>The human dilemma is hardly new. We find ourselves through no wish of our own on this slowly revolving planet in an obscure corner of a vast universe. Our questioning intelligence will not let us live in cow-like content with our lot. We have a deep need to know why we are here. What is the world made of? More important, what are we made of? In the past religion answered these questions, often in considerable detail. Now we know that almost all these answers are highly likely to be nonsense, having sprung from man's ignorance and his enormous capacity for self-deception&nbsp;... The simple fables of the religions of the world have come to seem like tales told to children. Even understood symbolically they are often perverse, if not rather unpleasant&nbsp;... Humanists, then, live in a mysterious, exciting and intellectually expanding world, which, once glimpsed, makes the old worlds of the religions seem fake-cosy and stale<ref>{{cite journal|last=Crick|first=Francis|title=Why I Am a Humanist |date=1966 |journal=[[Varsity (Cambridge)|Varsity]] |via=Francis Crick Papers: The Wellcome Library|url=http://search.wellcomelibrary.org/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1817155|access-date=2014-03-15}}</ref></blockquote>

Crick was especially critical of Christianity:

<blockquote>I do not respect Christian beliefs. I think they are ridiculous. If we could get rid of them we could more easily get down to the serious problem of trying to find out what the world is all about.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Crick|first=Francis|title=Letter to the Editor, ''Varsity'', the University of Cambridge newspaper. (1966).|journal=Francis Crick Papers|url=http://search.wellcomelibrary.org/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1817155|publisher=The Wellcome Library|access-date=2014-03-15|year=1966}}</ref></blockquote>

Crick once joked, "Christianity may be OK between consenting adults in private but should not be taught to young children."<ref name="guardianbooks">{{Cite news| title=Genius was in his DNA | author=McKie, Robin | date=17 September 2006 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/sep/17/scienceandnature.biography | work=The Guardian | access-date=4 August 2007 | location=London}}</ref>

In his book ''Of Molecules and Men'', Crick expressed his views on the [[relationship between science and religion]].<ref>''Of Molecules and Men'' (Prometheus Books, 2004; original edition 1967) {{ISBN|1-59102-185-5}}. A portion of the book was published as "[https://web.archive.org/web/20050912214335/http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/C/F/F/_/scbcff.pdf The Computer, the Eye, the Soul]" in ''Saturday Review'' (1966): 53–55.</ref> After suggesting that it would become possible for a computer to be programmed so as to have a [[Soul (spirit)|soul]], he wondered: at what point during biological evolution did the first organism have a soul? At what moment does a baby get a soul? Crick stated his view that the idea of a non-material soul that could enter a body and then persist after death is just that, an imagined idea. For Crick, the mind is a product of physical brain activity and the brain had evolved by natural means over millions of years. He felt that it was important that evolution by [[natural selection]] be taught in schools and that it was regrettable that English schools had compulsory religious instruction. He also considered that a new scientific world view was rapidly being established, and predicted that once the detailed workings of the brain were eventually revealed, erroneous Christian concepts about the nature of humans and the world would no longer be tenable; traditional conceptions of the "soul" would be replaced by a new understanding of the physical basis of mind. He was sceptical of [[organised religion]], referring to himself as a sceptic and an agnostic with "a strong inclination towards atheism".<ref name="CrickWMP10">[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], p. 10: Crick described himself as agnostic, with a "strong inclination towards atheism".</ref>

In 1960, Crick accepted an honorary fellowship at [[Churchill College, Cambridge]], one factor being that the new college did not have a chapel. Some time later a large donation was made to establish a chapel and the College Council decided to accept it. Crick resigned his fellowship in protest.<ref name="pmid15151106">{{Cite journal|author=Beckett C |title=For the Record: The Francis Crick Archive at the Wellcome Library |journal=Med Hist |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=245–60 |year=2004 |pmid=15151106 |pmc=546341|doi=10.1017/S0025727300007419 }}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080604203926/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fconnected%2F2003%2F03%2F19%2Fecfgod19.xml Do our genes reveal the hand of God?] ''The Daily Telegraph''. 20 March 2003.</ref>

In October 1969, Crick participated in a celebration of the 100th year of the journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' in which he attempted to make some predictions about what the next 30&nbsp;years would hold for molecular biology. His speculations were later published in ''Nature''.<ref name="Nature_1970">{{Cite journal|author=Crick F |title=Molecular biology in the year 2000 |journal=Nature |volume=228 |issue=5272 |pages=613–5 |date=November 1970 |pmid=4920018 |doi= 10.1038/228613a0|url= https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/C/C/J/_/scbccj.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050912214225/http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/C/C/J/_/scbccj.pdf |archive-date=2005-09-12 |url-status=dead |format=PDF reprint|bibcode = 1970Natur.228..613C |s2cid=4190938 }}</ref> Near the end of the article, Crick briefly mentioned the search for life on other planets, but he held little hope that [[extraterrestrial life]] would be found by the year 2000. He also discussed what he described as a possible new direction for research, what he called "biochemical theology". Crick wrote "so many people pray that one finds it hard to believe that they do not get some satisfaction from it".<ref name="Nature_1970" /> A field similar to Crick's hypothesised "biochemical theology" now exists as [[neurotheology]].<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Borg J, Andrée B, Soderstrom H, Farde L |date=November 2003 |title=The serotonin system and spiritual experiences |journal=Am J Psychiatry |volume=160 |issue=11 |pages=1965–9 |doi=10.1176/appi.ajp.160.11.1965 |pmid=14594742 |s2cid=5911066}}</ref>

Crick suggested that it might be possible to find chemical changes in the brain that were molecular correlates of the act of prayer. He speculated that there might be a detectable change in the level of some [[neurotransmitter]] or [[neurohormone]] when people pray. Crick's view of the relationship between science and religion continued to play a role in his work as he made the transition from [[molecular biology]] research into theoretical neuroscience.

Crick asked in 1998 "and if some of the Bible is manifestly wrong, why should any of the rest of it be accepted automatically?&nbsp;... And what would be more important than to find our true place in the universe by removing one by one these unfortunate vestiges of earlier beliefs?"<ref name="CrickWMP11">[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], p. 11</ref>

In 2003 he was one of 22 Nobel laureates who signed the [[Humanism and Its Aspirations|''Humanist Manifesto'']].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/manifesto3/signers/ |title=Humanism and Its Aspirations: Notable Signers |work=[[American Humanist Association]] |access-date=2025-11-18}}</ref>

===Creationism===
Crick was a firm critic of [[young Earth creationism]]. In the 1987 [[United States Supreme Court]] case ''[[Edwards v. Aguillard]]'', Crick joined a group of other [[Nobel laureate]]s who advised, {{"'}}Creation-science' simply has no place in the public-school science classroom."<ref>[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/edwards-v-aguillard/amicus1.html Amicus Curiae Brief of 72 Nobel Laureates, 17 State Academies of Science, and 7 Other Scientific Organization in Support of Appellees] filed in the case ''Edwards v. Aguillard'' before the U.S. Supreme Court (1986).</ref> Crick was also an advocate for the establishment of [[Darwin Day]] as a British national holiday.<ref>Press release from the British Humanist Association: [http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentViewArticle.asp?article=1348 Darwin Day a natural holiday?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051026085046/http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentViewArticle.asp?article=1348 |date=26 October 2005 }} (12 February 2003).</ref>

==Directed panspermia==
During the 1960s, Crick became concerned with the origins of the genetic code. In 1966, Crick took the place of [[Leslie Orgel]] at a meeting where Orgel was to talk about the [[origin of life]]. Crick speculated about possible stages by which an initially simple code with a few amino acid types might have evolved into the more complex code used by existing [[organism]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Crick FH |title=The origin of the genetic code |journal=Journal of Molecular Biology |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=367–79 |date=December 1968 |pmid=4887876 |doi=10.1016/0022-2836(68)90392-6|s2cid=4144681 }}</ref> At that time, [[protein]]s were thought to be the only kind of [[enzyme]], and [[ribozyme]]s had not yet been identified. Many molecular biologists were puzzled by the problem of the origin of a protein replicating system that is as complex as that which exists in organisms currently inhabiting Earth. In the early 1970s, Crick and Orgel further speculated about the possibility that the production of living systems from [[molecule]]s may have been a very rare event in the [[universe]], but once it had developed it could be spread by intelligent life forms using [[Spaceflight|space travel]] technology, a process they called "[[directed panspermia]]".<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/C/C/P/_/scbccp.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050912214232/http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/C/C/P/_/scbccp.pdf |archive-date=2005-09-12 |url-status=dead |title=Directed Panspermia|author1=Crick, Francis |author2=Orgel, Leslie E |journal=[[Icarus (journal)|Icarus]]|year=1973|volume =19 |pages =341–346|doi=10.1016/0019-1035(73)90110-3|issue=3|bibcode = 1973Icar...19..341C }} Crick later wrote a book about directed panspermia: {{Cite book |author=Crick, Francis |title=Life itself: its origin and nature |publisher=Simon and Schuster |location=New York |date=1981 |isbn=0-671-25562-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeitselfitsori00cric_0 }}</ref> In a retrospective article,<ref name="CrickRetro">{{Cite journal|vauthors=Orgel LE, Crick FH |title=Anticipating an RNA world. Some past speculations on the origin of life: where are they today? |journal=The FASEB Journal |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=238–9 |year=1993 |pmid=7678564 |doi=10.1096/fasebj.7.1.7678564 |doi-access=free |s2cid=11314345 }}</ref> Crick and Orgel noted that they had been unduly pessimistic about the chances of [[abiogenesis]] on Earth when they had assumed that some kind of self-replicating protein system was the molecular origin of life.

In 1976, Crick addressed the origin of protein synthesis in a paper with [[Sydney Brenner]], [[Aaron Klug]], and George Pieczenik.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Crick FH, Brenner S, Klug A, Pieczenik G |title=A speculation on the origin of protein synthesis |journal=Origins of Life |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=389–97 |date=December 1976 |pmid=1023138 |doi=10.1007/BF00927934|bibcode = 1976OrLi....7..389C |s2cid=42319222 }}</ref> In this paper, they speculate that code constraints on nucleotide sequences allow protein synthesis without the need for a [[ribosome]]. It, however, requires a five base binding between the mRNA and tRNA with a flip of the anti-codon creating a triplet coding, even though it is a five-base physical interaction. [[Thomas H. Jukes]] pointed out that the code constraints on the mRNA sequence required for this translation mechanism is still preserved.<ref>{{Cite journal
| doi = 10.1016/0006-291X(72)90031-9
| last1 = Jukes | first1 = T. H.
| last2 = Holmquist | first2 = R.
| title = Evolution of transfer RNA molecules as a repetitive process
| journal = Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
| volume = 49
| issue = 1
| pages = 212–216
| year = 1972
| pmid = 4562163
| bibcode = 1972BBRC...49..212J }}</ref>

==Neuroscience and other interests==
[[File:Decisionbrain.jpg|thumb|right|Results from an [[fMRI]] experiment in which people made a conscious decision about a visual stimulus. The small region of the brain coloured orange shows patterns of activity that correlate with the decision making process. Crick stressed the importance of finding new methods to probe human brain function.]]
Crick's period at Cambridge was the pinnacle of his long scientific career, but he left Cambridge in 1977 after 30&nbsp;years, having been offered (and having refused) the Mastership of [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge|Gonville and Caius]]. James Watson claimed at a Cambridge conference marking the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA in 2003:

<blockquote>Now perhaps it's a pretty well kept secret that one of the most uninspiring acts of the University of Cambridge over this past century was to turn down Francis Crick when he applied to be the [[Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics|Professor of Genetics]], in 1958. Now there may have been a series of arguments, which led them to reject Francis. It was really saying, don't push us to the frontier.{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}}</blockquote>

The apparently "pretty well kept secret" had already been recorded in [[Soraya de Chadarevian|Soraya De Chadarevian]]'s ''Designs For Life: Molecular Biology After World War II'', published by [[Cambridge University Press]] in 2002. His major contribution to molecular biology in Cambridge is well documented in ''The History of the University of Cambridge: Volume 4 (1870 to 1990)'', which was published by CUP in 1992.

According to the [[University of Cambridge]]'s genetics department official website, the electors of the professorship could not reach consensus, prompting the intervention of then University Vice-Chancellor [[Edgar Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian|Lord Adrian]]. Lord Adrian first offered the professorship to a compromise candidate, [[Guido Pontecorvo]], who refused, and is said to have offered it then to Crick, who also refused.

In 1976, Crick took a [[sabbatical]] year at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in [[La Jolla, California]]. Crick had been a nonresident fellow of the Institute since 1960. Crick wrote, "I felt at home in Southern California."<ref name="CrickWMP145">[[#Crick|Crick (1990)]], p. 145</ref> After the sabbatical, Crick left Cambridge to continue working at the Salk Institute. He was also an adjunct professor at the [[University of California, San Diego]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-crick-obit-story.html#|title=Co-discoverer of DNA's double helix dies|last=Mestel|first=Rosie|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=20 September 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Nobel Laureates |url=http://nobel.universityofcalifornia.edu/list.html |publisher=University of California |access-date=20 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130316124306/http://nobel.universityofcalifornia.edu/list.html |archive-date=16 March 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/uchistory/general_history/overview/1960timeline.html|title=University of California History Digital Archives|website=lib.berkeley.edu|access-date=20 September 2018}}</ref> He taught himself [[neuroanatomy]] and studied many other areas of [[neuroscience]] research. It took him several years to disengage from molecular biology because exciting discoveries continued to be made, including the discovery of [[alternative splicing]] and the discovery of [[restriction enzyme]]s, which helped make possible [[genetic engineering]]. Eventually, in the 1980s, Crick was able to devote his full attention to his other interest, [[consciousness]]. His autobiographical book, ''[[What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery]]'', includes a description of why he left molecular biology and switched to neuroscience.

Upon taking up work in theoretical neuroscience, Crick was struck by several things:
* there were many isolated subdisciplines within neuroscience with little contact between them
* many people who were interested in behaviour treated the brain as a [[black box (systems)|black box]]
* consciousness was viewed as a [[taboo]] subject by many [[neurobiologist]]s

Crick hoped he might aid progress in neuroscience by promoting constructive interactions between specialists from the many different subdisciplines concerned with consciousness. He also collaborated with [[neurophilosophy|neurophilosophers]] such as [[Patricia Churchland]]. In 1983, as a result of their studies of computer models of neural networks, Crick and Mitchison proposed that the function of [[REM sleep]] and dreaming is to remove certain modes of interactions in networks of cells in the mammalian cerebral cortex; they called this hypothetical process "[[reverse learning]]" or "unlearning". In the final phase of his career, Crick established a collaboration with [[Christof Koch]] that led to publication of a series of articles on consciousness during the period spanning from 1990<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20050912214253/http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/C/F/D/_/scbcfd.pdf Towards a Neurobiological Theory of Consciousness]" by Francis Crick and Christof Koch in ''Seminars in the Neurosciences'' (1990): Volume 2 pages 263–275.</ref> to 2005. Crick made the strategic decision to focus his theoretical investigation of consciousness on how the brain generates visual [[awareness]] within a few hundred milliseconds of viewing a scene. Crick and Koch proposed that consciousness seems so mysterious because it involves very short-term [[memory]] processes that are as yet poorly understood. In his book ''[[The Astonishing Hypothesis]]'', Crick described how [[neurobiology]] had reached a mature enough stage so that consciousness could be the subject of a unified effort to study it at the molecular, cellular and behavioural levels. Crick was sceptical about the value of [[Connectionism|computational models]] of mental function that are not based on details about brain structure and function.

Crick was aware that research on consciousness was a difficult task, as he wrote to [[Martynas Yčas]] in April 1996:<blockquote>I don't think we shall fully understand consciousness by the end of this century, but it's possible we can get a glimpse of the answer by then. Whether it will all fall into place, as molecular biology did, without a vital force, or whether we need a radical formulation, only time will tell. Best wishes, Yours, Francis. P.S. By the way, I've not been knighted.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Strauss |first=Bernard S |date=2019-03-01 |title=Martynas Yčas: The "Archivist" of the RNA Tie Club |url=https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.118.301754 |journal=Genetics |volume=211 |issue=3 |pages=789–795 |doi=10.1534/genetics.118.301754 |pmid=30846543 |pmc=6404253 |issn=1943-2631}}</ref></blockquote>

==Awards and honours==
[[File:Crick-stainedglass-gonville-caius.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Stained glass window in the dining hall of [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge|Caius College]], in Cambridge, commemorating Francis Crick and representing the double helical structure of [[B-DNA]]]]

In addition to his third share of the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, he received many awards and honours, including the Royal and Copley medals of the Royal Society (1972 and 1975), and also the Order of Merit (on 27 November 1991); he refused an offer of a CBE in 1963,<ref>{{cite web|title=Cabinet Office list of honours declined by since deceased persons, 1951–1999 |url=https://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/document2012-01-24-075439.pdf |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120404175744/http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/document2012%2D01%2D24%2D075439.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 April 2012 |access-date=2 November 2016 }}</ref> but was often referred to in error as 'Sir Francis Crick' and even on occasions as 'Lord Crick'. He was elected an [[EMBO Member]] in 1964.<ref name=EMBO>{{cite web |url=https://people.embo.org/profile/francis-hc-crick |work=[[European Molecular Biology Organization|EMBO]] People |location=Heidelberg |title=Francis Crick}}</ref>

The award of Nobel Prizes to John Kendrew and Max Perutz, and to Crick, Watson, and Wilkins was satirised in a short sketch in the BBC TV programme ''[[That Was The Week That Was]]'' with the Nobel Prizes being referred to as 'The Alfred Nobel Peace Pools'.

He was an elected member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] (1962),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Francis Harry Compton Crick |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/francis-harry-compton-crick |access-date=2022-08-23 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences }}</ref> the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] (1969),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Francis Crick |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/46730.html |access-date=2022-08-23 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref> and the [[American Philosophical Society]] (1972).<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Francis+Crick&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-08-23 |website=search.amphilsoc.org |archive-date=23 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220823131819/https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Francis+Crick&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Francis Crick Medal and Lecture===
The [[Crick Lecture|Francis Crick Medal and Lecture]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/awards/francis-crick-lecture/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150211202353/https://royalsociety.org/awards/francis-crick-lecture/|publisher=Royal Society|location=London|title=Francis Crick Medal and Lecture: This prize lecture is given on a subject in the field of biology|archive-date=11 February 2015}}</ref> was established in 2003 following an endowment by his former colleague, [[Sydney Brenner]], joint winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine.<ref>[http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?tip=1&id=1809 The Francis Crick Lecture (2003)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112005611/http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?tip=1&id=1809 |date=12 November 2007 }}: [[The Royal Society]] website. Retrieved 12 July 2006.</ref> The lecture is delivered annually in any field of biological sciences, with preference given to the areas in which Francis Crick himself worked. Importantly, the lectureship is aimed at younger scientists, ideally under 40, or whose career progression corresponds to this age. {{As of|2019}}, Crick lectures have been delivered by [[Julie Ahringer]], [[Dario Alessi]], [[Ewan Birney]], [[Simon Boulton]], Jason Chin, [[Simon Fisher]], [[Matthew Hurles]], [[Gilean McVean]], [[Duncan Odom]], [[Geraint Rees]], [[Sarah Teichmann]], [[M. Madan Babu]] and [[Daniel Wolpert]].{{cn|date=September 2025}}

===Francis Crick Institute===
The [[Francis Crick Institute]] is a £660&nbsp;million biomedical research centre located in central London, United Kingdom.<ref name=guardianplans>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/jun/19/largest-biomedical-research-facility-europe|title=Plans for largest biomedical research facility in Europe unveiled|access-date=11 August 2010|work=The Guardian| location=London | first=Alok | last=Jha | date=19 June 2010}}</ref> The Francis Crick Institute is a partnership between [[Cancer Research UK]], [[Imperial College London]], King's College London, the Medical Research Council, University College London (UCL) and the [[Wellcome Trust]].<ref name=the15411>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=415855&c=1|title=Three's company: Imperial, King's join UCL in £700m medical project|access-date=16 April 2011|magazine=[[Times Higher Education]]| date=15 April 2011}}</ref> Completed in 2016, it is the largest centre for biomedical research and innovation in Europe.<ref name=guardianplans/>

===Francis Crick Graduate Lectures===
The University of Cambridge Graduate School of Biological, Medical and Veterinary Sciences hosts The Francis Crick Graduate Lectures. The first two lectures were by [[John Gurdon]] and [[Tim Hunt]].<ref>''[http://www.bio.cam.ac.uk/gradschool/adverts/johngurdon.html Back and Forward: From University to Research Institute; From Egg to Adult, and Back Again] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060103011540/http://www.bio.cam.ac.uk/gradschool/adverts/johngurdon.html |date=3 January 2006 }}'' by Professor Sir John Gurdon, Francis Crick Graduate Lectures, 29 November 2005. [[University of Cambridge]].</ref><ref>''[http://www.bio.cam.ac.uk/gradschool/adverts/timhunt-review.html A Life in Science] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060103013105/http://www.bio.cam.ac.uk/gradschool/adverts/timhunt-review.html |date=3 January 2006 }}'' by Dr Tim Hunt, Francis Crick Graduate Lectures, 29 June 2005. [[University of Cambridge]].</ref>

===Other honours===
* Crick was elected a [[List of Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1959|Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1959]],<ref name=frs/><ref name=rsbm/> a Fellow of the [[International Academy of Humanism]], and a Fellow of [[CSICOP]].
* In 1987, Crick received the Golden Plate Award of the US [[Academy of Achievement]].<ref name="achievement.org" /><ref>{{cite news |title= Summit Overview Photo| url= https://achievement.org/summit/}}</ref>
* The inscription on the helices of a DNA sculpture (which was donated by James Watson) outside Thirkill Court, [[Clare College, Cambridge]], reads: "The structure of DNA was discovered in 1953 by Francis Crick and James Watson while Watson lived here at Clare." and on the base: "The double helix model was supported by the work of Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins."
* Another sculpture entitled ''Discovery'', by artist Lucy Glendinning, was installed on 13 December 2005 in Abington Street, Northampton.<ref>{{cite news |title=Memorial design for Crick chosen |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4081196.stm |work=BBC News |date=10 June 2005}}</ref> According to the late Lynn Wilson, chairman of the Wilson Foundation, "The sculpture celebrates the life of a world class scientist who must surely be considered the greatest Northamptonian of all time&nbsp;— by discovering DNA he unlocked the whole future of genetics and the alphabet of life."
* Westminster City Council unveiled a green plaque to Francis Crick on the front façade of 56 St George's Square, Pimlico, London SW1 on 20 June 2007; Crick lived in the first floor flat, together with [[Robert Dougall]] of BBC radio and later TV fame, a former Royal Navy associate.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070926224353/http://www.westminster.gov.uk/councilgovernmentanddemocracy/councils/pressoffice/news/pr-3802.cfm Westminster honours Francis Crick (20/06/2007)]. City of Westminster.</ref>
* At a meeting of the executive council of the [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]] (CSI) (formerly CSICOP) in [[Denver]], Colorado in April 2011, Crick was selected for inclusion in CSI's Pantheon of Skeptics. The Pantheon of Skeptics was created by CSI to remember the legacy of deceased fellows of CSI and their contributions to the cause of scientific scepticism.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Pantheon of Skeptics|url=https://www.csicop.org/about/the_pantheon_of_skeptics|website=CSI|publisher=[[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]]|access-date=30 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131054129/http://www.csicop.org/about/the_pantheon_of_skeptics|archive-date=31 January 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
* A sculpted bust of Francis Crick by [[John Sherrill Houser]], which incorporates a single "Golden" Helix, was cast in bronze in the artist's studio in New Mexico, US. The bronze was first displayed at the Francis Crick Memorial Conference (on Consciousness) at Churchill College, Cambridge on 7 July 2012; it was bought by Mill Hill School in May 2013, and displayed at the inaugural Crick Dinner on 8 June 2013, and was again at their Crick Centenary Dinner in 2016.
* The [[Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Sciences]] of the [[American Philosophical Society]] (2001), together with Watson.<ref name="franklinscience_recipients">{{cite web|url=https://www.amphilsoc.org/prizes/franklinscience |title=Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Sciences Recipients |publisher=[[American Philosophical Society]] |access-date=27 November 2011}}</ref>
* Crick featured in the BBC Radio 4 series ''[[The New Elizabethans]]'' to mark the [[Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II]] in 2012. A panel of seven academics, journalists and historians named Crick among a group of 60 people in the UK "whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and given the age its character".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jxs2c/features/about|publisher=BBC|title=The New Elizabethans – Francis Crick|access-date=30 May 2016}}</ref>

==Books==
{{Library resources box|by=yes|viaf=49223910}}
* ''Of Molecules and Men'' (Prometheus Books, 2004; original edition 1967) {{ISBN|1-59102-185-5}}
* ''Life Itself: Its Origin and Nature'' (Simon & Schuster, 1981) {{ISBN|0-671-25562-2}}
* ''[[What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery]]'' (Basic Books reprint edition, 1990) {{ISBN|0-465-09138-5}}
* ''[[The Astonishing Hypothesis]]: The Scientific Search for the Soul'' (Scribner reprint edition, 1995) {{ISBN|0-684-80158-2}}
* Georg Kreisel: a Few Personal Recollections. In: ''Kreiseliana: About and Around [[Georg Kreisel]]'' (1996), pp.&nbsp;25–32. {{ISBN|1-56881-061-X}}

==See also==
* {{anl|Crick, Brenner et al. experiment}}
* {{anl|Wobble base pair|Crick's wobble hypothesis}}
* [[History of RNA biology]]
* [[List of RNA biologists]]
* {{anl|Molecular structure of Nucleic Acids}}
* {{anl|Neural correlates of consciousness}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
* {{Cite book|ref=Crick |author=Crick, Francis |date=1990 |title=What Mad Pursuit: a Personal View of Scientific Discovery |location=New York |publisher=Basic Books |edition=reprint |isbn=0-465-09138-5}}
* {{Cite book |ref=Maddox |author=Maddox, Brenda |title=Rosalind Franklin: the dark lady of DNA |publisher=HarperCollins |location=London |date=2002 |isbn=0-06-018407-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/rosalindfranklin00madd }}
* {{Cite book|ref=Olby|author=Olby, Robert|title=Francis Crick: Hunter of Life's Secrets|publisher= Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press|date= 2009|isbn= 978-0-87969-798-3}}
* {{Cite book|title=Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code |date=2006 |publisher=Atlas Books |isbn=0-06-082333-X |location=Ashland, OH |ref=Ridley|author=Ridley, Matt |author-link= Matt Ridley }}
* {{Cite book|ref=Wilkins|author=Wilkins, Maurice |title=The Third Man of the Double Helix: The Autobiography of Maurice Wilkins|isbn=0-19-860665-6|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2003 }}

==Further reading==
* John Bankston, Francis Crick and James D. Watson; ''Francis Crick and James Watson: Pioneers in DNA Research'' (Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc., 2002) {{ISBN|1-58415-122-6}}.
* Bill Bryson; ''A Short History of Nearly Everything'' (Broadway Books, 2003) {{ISBN|0-7679-0817-1}}.
* Soraya De Chadarevian; ''Designs For Life: Molecular Biology After World War II'', CUP 2002, 444 pp; {{ISBN|0-521-57078-6}}.
* Roderick Braithwaite. ''Strikingly Alive:'' ''The History of the Mill Hill School Foundation 1807–2007''; published Phillimore & Co. {{ISBN|978-1-86077-330-3}}
* Edwin Chargaff; ''Heraclitean Fire'', Rockefeller Press, 1978.
* S. Chomet (Ed.), ''D.N.A. Genesis of a Discovery'', 1994, Newman- Hemisphere Press, London
* Dickerson, Richard E.; ''Present at the Flood: How Structural Molecular Biology Came About'', Sinauer, 2005; {{ISBN|0-87893-168-6}}.
* Edward Edelson, ''Francis Crick And James Watson: And the Building Blocks of Life'', Oxford University Press, 2000, {{ISBN|0-19-513971-2}}.
* John Finch; ''A Nobel Fellow On Every Floor'', Medical Research Council 2008, 381 pp, {{ISBN|978-1-84046-940-0}}.
* Hager, Thomas; ''Force of Nature: The Life of Linus Pauling'', Simon & Schuster 1995; {{ISBN|0-684-80909-5}}
* Graeme Hunter; ''Light Is A Messenger, the life and science of William Lawrence Bragg'' (Oxford University Press, 2004) {{ISBN|0-19-852921-X}}.
* Horace Freeland Judson, ''The Eighth Day of Creation. Makers of the Revolution in Biology''; Penguin Books 1995, first published by Jonathan Cape, 1977; {{ISBN|0-14-017800-7}}.
* Errol C. Friedberg; ''Sydney Brenner: A Biography'', pub. [[CSHL Press]] October 2010, {{ISBN|0-87969-947-7}}.
* Torsten Krude (Ed.); ''DNA Changing Science and Society'' ({{ISBN|0-521-82378-1}}) CUP 2003. (The Darwin Lectures for 2003, including one by Sir Aaron Klug on Rosalind Franklin's involvement in the determination of the structure of DNA).
* [[Robert Olby]]; ''The Path to The Double Helix: Discovery of DNA''; first published in October 1974 by MacMillan, with foreword by Francis Crick; {{ISBN|0-486-68117-3}}; revised in 1994, with a 9-page postscript.
* [[Robert Olby]]; Oxford National Dictionary article: Crick, Francis Harry Compton (1916–2004). In: ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, January 2008.
* Anne Sayre. 1975. ''Rosalind Franklin and DNA''. New York: W.W. Norton and Company. {{ISBN|0-393-32044-8}}.
* James D. Watson; ''[[The Double Helix]]: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA'', Atheneum, 1980, {{ISBN|0-689-70602-2}} (first published in 1968) is a very readable firsthand account of the research by Crick and Watson. The book also formed the basis of the award-winning television dramatisation ''Life Story'' by BBC Horizon (also broadcast as ''Race for the Double Helix''). [The Norton Critical Edition, which was published in 1980, edited by Gunther S. Stent: {{ISBN|0-393-01245-X}}]
* James D. Watson; ''Avoid Boring People and Other Lessons from a Life in Science'', New York: Random House. {{ISBN|978-0-375-41284-4}}.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://www.crick.ac.uk/about-us/francis-crick The Francis Crick Institute]
* [https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/francis-harry-compton-crick-1916-2004 "Francis Harry Compton Crick (1916–2004)" by A. Andrei at the Embryo Project Encyclopedia]
* {{Nobelprize}}
* {{NPG name}}

'''Crick papers'''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070825101712/http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/testing/html/mss0660a.html#abstract Register of Francis Crick Personal Papers – MSS 660] Crick's personal papers at Mandeville Special Collections Library, Geisel Library, University of California, San Diego
* Francis Crick Archive&nbsp;— Papers by Francis Crick are available for study at the [[Wellcome Library]]'s Archives and Manuscripts department. These papers include those dealing with Crick's career after he moved to the Salk Institute in San Diego. The digitised papers are available at [http://wellcomelibrary.org/using-the-library/subject-guides/genetics/makers-of-modern-genetics/digitised-archives/francis-crick/ Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics: the Francis Crick papers]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080917104652/http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/Views/AlphaChron/date/10002/ Comprehensive list of pdf files of Crick's papers from 1950 to 1990] – National Library of Medicine.
* [http://www.nature.com/nature/focus/crick/index.html Francis Crick papers] – ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]].com''
* [http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/dna/people/crick.html Key Participants: Francis H. C. Crick] – ''Linus Pauling and the Race for DNA: A Documentary History''

'''Audio and video files'''
* [http://www.artboy.info/strange/listen.html An interview with Francis Crick and Christof Koch, 2001] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303085551/http://www.artboy.info/strange/listen.html |date=3 March 2009 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121022011228/http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/beautifulminds/sounds.html#compton Listen to Francis Crick]
* ''[http://www.artboy.info/strange/listen.html#Christof1 The Quest for Consciousness] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303085551/http://www.artboy.info/strange/listen.html#Christof1 |date=3 March 2009 }}'' – ''The Quest for Consciousness'' – 65&nbsp;minute audio program&nbsp;— a conversation on Consciousness with neurobiologist Francis Crick of the Salk Institute and neurobiologist Christof Koch from Caltech.
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/profilepages/crickwatson1.shtml Listen] to Francis Crick and James Watson talking on the BBC in 1962, 1972, and 1974.
* [http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/events/1995paulingconference/video-s1-2-crick.html The Impact of Linus Pauling on Molecular Biology] – a 1995 talk delivered by Crick at [[Oregon State University]]

'''About his work'''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081224001514/http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/node30074.html The Crick Papers] at the Wellcome Trust.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070207145444/http://chem-faculty.ucsd.edu/joseph/CHEM13/DNA1.pdf "Quiet debut for the double helix"] by Professor Robert Olby, ''Nature'' '''421''' (23 January 2003): 402–405.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050826083936/http://www.ncbe.reading.ac.uk/DNA50/reviews.html Reading list] for discovery of DNA story from the National Centre for Biotechnology Education.
* [https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/9/archival_objects/461354 Papers of Francis Crick, 1953–1969] held at [[Churchill Archives Centre]]

'''About his life'''
* [http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2010/professor_robert_olby.shtml Olby's Australian lecture, March 2010]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041012184112/http://www.salk.edu/news/releases/details.php?id=103 Salk Institute Press Release] on the death of Francis Crick.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050216013033/http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/ The Francis Crick Papers] – Profiles in Science, National Library of Medicine
* {{cite news |title=Obituary: Francis Crick |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/science/article/obituary-francis-crick-9xmmpb07qkv |work=[[The Times]] |location=London |url-access=subscription |date=2004-07-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251107100341/https://www.thetimes.com/uk/science/article/obituary-francis-crick-9xmmpb07qkv |archive-date=2025-11-07 |url-status=live}}
* [http://www.biochemist.org/bio/02605/0080/026050080.pdf Francis Crick Obituary] ''The Biochemist''

'''Miscellaneous'''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060517004945/http://www.genome.gov/18516768 National DNA Day, 25 April 2006 Moderated Chat Transcript Archive]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060615141650/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article702961.ece ''Independent'' On Line article] about Consciousness, 7 June 2006.
* {{Cite journal|vauthors=Siegel RM, Callaway EM |title=Francis Crick's Legacy for Neuroscience: Between the α and the Ω |journal=PLOS Biology |volume=2 |issue=12 |pages=e419 |date=December 2004 |pmid=17593891 |pmc=535570 |doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0020419 |doi-access=free }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20000510021309/http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/watsoncrick.html 100 Scientists and Thinkers: James Watson and Francis Crick] from ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine.
* [https://archive.today/20060924181633/http://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/archive/Crick62.html Francis Crick: Nobel Prize 1962, Physiology or Medicine]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060618160456/http://www.packer34.freeserve.co.uk/selectedTATAwebsites.htm First press stories on DNA] but for the "second" DNA story in ''The New York Times'', see: https://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/science/dna-article.pdf&nbsp;— for reproduction of the original text in June 1953.
* [https://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2003/02/25/health/genetics/index.html 50th anniversary series of articles] -from ''[[The New York Times]]''.
* [https://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/dna/quotes/olby.html Quotes] of [[Robert Olby]] on exactly who ''may'' have discovered the structure of DNA.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070211091009/http://www.packer34.freeserve.co.uk/rememberingfranciscrickacelebration.htm A celebration of Francis Crick's life in science].
* [https://www.webofstories.com/play/13844 Francis Crick tells his life story] at [[Web of Stories]]
* {{Cite journal|vauthors=Bretscher M, Lawrence P |title=Francis Crick 1916–2004 |journal=Current Biology |volume=14 |issue=16 |pages=R642–5 |date=August 2004 |pmid=15324677 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2004.08.006|doi-access=free |bibcode=2004CBio...14.R642B }}
* [https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200410/steyn Article by Mark Steyn from The Atlantic in 2004].
* [https://archive.today/20120224095640/http://www.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/PAL/NewFiles/PAListFrames.html Review of ''Francis Crick: Hunter of Life's Secrets'' in ''Current Biology''].

{{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 1951–1975}}
{{1962 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Francis Crick Institute}}
{{Copley Medallists 1951–2000}}
{{History of biology}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crick, Francis Harry Compton}}
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