Title:

Letter from James D. Watson to Francis Crick

Creator:

Watson, James D., 1928-

Recipient:

Crick, Francis, 1916-2004

Date:

27 May 1955

Description:

Watson here told of his studies with Tobacco Mosaic Virus as well as related plant viruses such as potato virus and Turnip Yellow Mosaic (TYM) virus, both mentioned in the letter.. Watson also mentioned a visit to the California Institute of Technology by Erwin Chargaff, the Columbia University biochemist who had discovered the even ratios of the pyrine and the pyrimidine bases in DNA, and who had taken a dim view of Watson and Crick as well as of their helical theories when he met them in Cambridge in July of 1952.

Original Repository:

The Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine. Francis Harry Compton Crick Papers

Location:

Box: 26. Folder: PP/CRI/D/2/45

Rights:

Reproduced with permission of James D. Watson.

Genre:

Letters (correspondence)

Subject:

Tobacco Mosaic Virus and DNA

Format:

Text

Extent:

2 pages

Language:

English

Legacy Source Citation:

Original Repository. Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine. Francis Harry Compton Crick Papers. 11646. URL. http://archives.wellcome.ac.uk/

Legacy ID:

SCBBJJ

NLM ID:

101584582X116

Profiles Collection:

The Francis Crick Papers

Shareable Link:

https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/101584582X116

Story Section:

Defining the Genetic Coding Problem, 1954-1957