Letter from James D. Watson to Francis Crick
- Title:
- Letter from James D. Watson to Francis Crick
- Creator:
- Watson, James D., 1928-
- Recipient:
- Crick, Francis, 1916-2004
- Date:
- 11 December 1954
- Description:
- Watson here gave details about his X-ray studies of the structure of RNA (ribonucleic acid), the single-stranded companion molecule to DNA which is an essential intermediary in protein synthesis. His warning that "it will be a nasty job to prove existence of 20 specific cavities" in RNA (p.3) was a reference to George Gamow's idea that genes could provide a direct, physical template for the twenty amino acids that form the polypeptide chains of which proteins are made up.. Jim
- 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:
- RNA and DNA
- Format:
- Text
- Extent:
- 4 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:
- SCBBJN
- NLM ID:
- 101584582X119
- Profiles Collection:
- The Francis Crick Papers
- Shareable Link:
- https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/101584582X119
- Story Section:
- Defining the Genetic Coding Problem, 1954-1957