Francis Crick

NAME Francis Harry Compton Crick

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Francis Crick is renowned for his co-discovery of the DNA double helix, a milestone in molecular biology.

BIRTH Born on June 8, 1916, in Northampton, England.

FAMILY BACKGROUND Francis Crick was the elder son of Harry and Annie Elizabeth Crick (née Wilkins.  His father and uncle ran a family boot and shoe factory. While Crick had a younger brother, A. F. who became a doctor, a more significant influence came from his grandfather, Walter Drawbridge Crick. An amateur naturalist, Walter nurtured Francis's scientific curiosity.

CHILDHOOD From a young age, Francis exhibited a strong interest in science. He devoured books on the subject and was fortunate to have his uncle Walter nearby. In a dedicated shed, Walter imparted various scientific skills to young Francis, including glass blowing, chemical experiments and making photographic prints. This early exposure to hands-on science undoubtedly shaped Crick's future path. Notably, by the age of 12, he had abandoned religious beliefs, preferring a scientific lens to understand the world.

EDUCATION Crick's formal education began at Northampton Grammar School, followed by a scholarship to the prestigious Mill Hill School in London at age 14. Here, he excelled in science subjects like mathematics, physics, and chemistry, even winning the Walter Knox Prize for Chemistry.

He continued his academic journey at University College London, obtaining a B.Sc. in physics in 1937.  While he initially started postgraduate research under Prof E. N. da C. Andrade, World War II intervened, forcing a temporary shift in his focus.

After the war, Crick transitioned to biology, pursuing his Ph.D. at Cambridge University's Caius College. He completed his doctorate in 1954, focusing on X-ray diffraction of polypeptides and proteins. This transition from physics to biology proved to be pivotal, laying the groundwork for his groundbreaking collaboration with James Watson on the structure of DNA.

CAREER RECORD During World War II, he worked for the British Admiralty,

In 1951, Crick began working with James Watson at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. Their collaboration, along with contributions from Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins, led to the identification of DNA's helical structure. Their pivotal work on DNA's structure was announced on February 28, 1953, in the Eagle pub near Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory.

Crick and Watson's working style was characterized by candid communication, intense discussions, and a theoretical focus. They were not afraid to challenge each other's ideas, often engaging in heated debates both in their office and at the nearby Eagle pub. While they did not conduct experiments themselves, they excelled at interpreting and integrating the data of other researchers.

In 1977, Crick joined the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, as a research professor.

APPEARANCE See photo below

Francis Crick in his office. By Francis_Crick.png: Photo: Marc Liebermanderivative 

FASHION Crick was known to be always careful and well-groomed in his dress, usually wearing a colorful tie.

CHARACTER Crick was described as driven, intellectually curious, and highly competitive, with a youthful arrogance and impatience with sloppy thinking.

SENSE OF HUMOUR  Throughout his life, Crick maintained a balance between being a serious, committed scientist and someone with a playful, sometimes flippant personality. In the early 1970s, Peter Medawar suggested that Crick recast an essay he had written with Leslie Orgel about the origins of life for the fashion magazine Vogue. In response to this suggestion, Crick humorously quipped that they had originally considered Playboy magazine instead.

Crick’s sharp wit often shone in conversations. He once quipped that scientific breakthroughs require “ruthlessness” and “impatience with nonsense.”

RELATIONSHIPS Francis Crick was married twice. His first marriage was to Ruth Doreen Dodd whom he wed on February 18, 1940. They had one child together, Michael. The marriage ended in divorce on May 8, 1947.

On August 14, 1949, Crick married French artist Odile Speed. This marriage lasted until his death in 2004. With Odile, Crick had two daughters: Gabrielle and Jacqueline.

Odile, was an artist who famously drew the illustration of the double helix structure of DNA for Crick and Watson's groundbreaking paper in Nature in 1953. The Cricks were known for hosting lively parties in Cambridge and later in California, where they moved in the 1970s when Francis Crick became a professor at the Salk Institute.

Francis Crick and James Watson were drawn together by their shared fascination with DNA and the groundbreaking work of scientists like Linus Pauling. Their mutual intellectual curiosity formed the bedrock of their partnership.

Their collaboration was fueled by a blend of complementary traits: youthful arrogance, ruthlessness, and impatience with sloppy thinking. This combination of qualities allowed them to tackle the complex puzzle of DNA structure with unwavering determination.

MONEY AND FAME Crick received global recognition and numerous accolades, including a Nobel Prize in 1962, but remained focused on scientific discovery rather than wealth.

Below is a stained glass window in the dining hall of Caius College, in Cambridge, commemorating Francis Crick and representing the double helical structure of B-DNA. The stained glass was designed by Maria McClafferty and installed between 1992 and 1993

By Wikipedia user: Schutz

FOOD AND DRINK Crick was known to enjoy a hearty meal and often dined in the company of colleagues, discussing scientific theories.

Crick and his wife Odile enjoyed champagne on special occasions. When they learned about his Nobel Prize win, Odile rushed to get ice to cool champagne for a celebration.

The Cricks were renowned for their lively social gatherings. They hosted parties at their home, the Golden Helix, in Cambridge, which often featured champagne and entertaining conversations. Later, in the 1960s, their parties became more bohemian and wild.

MUSIC AND ARTS Crick appreciated Odile’s artistic talents and supported her creative pursuits, which included painting and teaching. While not an artist himself,  Crick had a fine sense of aesthetic elegance, reflected in his scientific discoveries and writing. He enjoyed the company of artists and creative individuals at their social gatherings

LITERATURE He enjoyed reading extensively, particularly scientific texts and philosophical works.

NATURE Crick was fascinated by the origins of life, even hypothesizing that life on Earth might have arrived via an unmanned rocket carrying microbial spores from an advanced civilization.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Crick enjoyed intellectual hobbies, including chess and philosophical debates.

SCIENCE AND MATHS In the grand and occasionally haphazard saga of scientific discovery, few moments shine as brightly—or come with as many footnotes of controversy—as James D. Watson and Francis Crick’s unmasking of DNA’s structure in 1953. Their revelation of the double helix was, to put it mildly, a rather big deal. It fundamentally changed how we understand life itself, which is no small accomplishment for two men tinkering with metal models in a Cambridge lab.

The tale begins in 1951 at the Cavendish Laboratory, where Watson, a young and enthusiastic American, joined forces with Crick, a brash and brilliant Brit who, at the age of 35, had not yet completed his PhD but had plenty of opinions to make up for it. They made an unlikely but effective pair—Watson brought an unfiltered enthusiasm for the problem, while Crick had a penchant for grand theories and a voice that, according to colleagues, could carry across entire buildings.

Now, contrary to the neat and tidy version of history often told, Watson and Crick did not pull their discovery out of thin air. They leaned heavily—some might say rather too heavily—on the work of others, particularly Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins at King's College London. Franklin, a meticulous scientist, had produced astonishing X-ray diffraction images of DNA, most notably the now-famous "Photograph 51." This image, which vividly suggested a helical structure, found its way to Watson without Franklin's knowledge—an ethical footnote that historians and biographers have debated ever since.

Armed with Franklin’s data (whether they should have been or not), Watson and Crick embarked on an ambitious exercise in model-building, assembling DNA’s structure with metal plates and wire, as if life’s blueprint were some particularly tricky bit of Meccano. They soon arrived at their now-famous conclusion: DNA was not a single spiral, as some had suspected, but a double helix—a gloriously twisted ladder in which the rungs were formed by specific base pairings: adenine with thymine, guanine with cytosine, held together by delicate hydrogen bonds.

On April 25, 1953, their findings appeared in Nature under the unassuming title "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid." It was, as scientific papers go, astonishingly short—barely a page and a half—but its impact was seismic. The discovery explained, with almost poetic simplicity, how genetic information could be copied and passed down through generations, providing the missing key to the mystery of heredity.

Recognition followed, albeit unevenly. In 1962, Watson, Crick, and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Franklin, who had tragically died of cancer in 1958 at just 37, was ineligible under the Nobel committee’s rules, which do not allow posthumous awards. This remains one of the great injustices of scientific history, though her contributions are now widely acknowledged.

The double helix has since become one of the most iconic images in all of science, its influence reaching far beyond genetics into medicine, biotechnology, forensics, and even popular culture. All of which makes it easy to forget that this revolutionary discovery was, at its heart, the result of two audacious minds, a bit of inspired guesswork, and an arguably ill-gotten photograph.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY By the age of 12, Crick had abandoned religious beliefs, preferring a scientific lens to understand the world.

As an avowed atheist, Crick dismissed conventional religion, focusing instead on scientific explanations for life's origins.

POLITICS Crick was outspoken about the ethical implications of scientific discoveries but avoided overt political affiliations.

SCANDAL Crick’s atheism was considered controversial, particularly as he worked in the Cavendish Laboratory, which bore a biblical inscription: “Great are the works of the Lord.”

During a celebration of Crick's Nobel Prize win, there was an incident involving fireworks. A policeman arrived at Crick's home to investigate a complaint that the noise was disturbing a neighbor's greyhounds.

MILITARY RECORD During World War II, Crick worked for the Admiralty Research Laboratory, where he helped design an undetectable mine for the Royal Navy.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Crick remained active throughout his life, maintaining a sharp mind and keen energy for scientific work.

HOMES After joining the Medical Research Council Unit in 1949, Crick and his wife, Odile, settled in Cambridge. They initially made do with a small, austere flat, reflecting their modest circumstances. Later, they moved to a more comfortable home at 19 Portugal Place, affectionately known as "The Golden Helix." This house became renowned for the lively parties the Cricks hosted, drawing in a vibrant mix of scientists and intellectuals.

In the late 1970s, the Cricks embarked on a new chapter, relocating to California when Francis accepted a distinguished professorship at the Salk Institute. They divided their time between two homes: a suburban hilltop residence in La Jolla and a desert retreat.

TRAVEL Crick traveled widely, presenting lectures and collaborating with international researchers.

DEATH Francis Crick passed away on July 28, 2004, in San Diego, California, at the age of 88. His death came after he had been diagnosed with colon cancer.

Crick spent his last days at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Thornton Hospital in La Jolla, where he ultimately succumbed to his illness.

Following his death, Crick's body was cremated. In accordance with his wishes, his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean. This choice of final resting place reflects Crick's connection to California, where he had lived and worked for many years at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Crick and Watson's DNA discovery has been depicted in various documentaries, and films, cementing their legacy in popular culture.

The Race for the Double Helix (1987) is a BBC drama, starring Jeff Goldblum as James Watson and Tm Pigott-Smith as Francis Crick, portrays the events leading up to the discovery of the DNA structure. 

Crick occasionally participated in televised discussions and lectures, sharing his insights on genetics and the origins of life.

ACHIEVEMENTS Co-discovery of the DNA double helix.

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962, shared with James Watson and Maurice Wilkins.

Major contributions to the understanding of genetic coding and molecular biology.