Title:

Letter from James D. Watson to Maurice Wilkins

Creator:

Watson, James D., 1928-

Recipient:

Wilkins, Maurice, 1916-2004

Date:

28 November 1966

Description:

In this letter Watson tried to counter Wilkins' criticism of his proposed personal account of the discovery of the double helix as insensitive, idiosyncratic, and detrimental to the public's understanding of science by insisting that the book "will do far more good than harm" by giving an unvarnished portrait of scientific ambition, competition, failure, and success. Watson hoped that "a nasty open battle" between him, Wilkins, and Crick over the book would be avoided.. NOTE: This copy of a letter from Watson was sent to Crick by Wilkins for his review.. NOTE: The first page of the original photocopy is faded and inconsistently printed.

Original Repository:

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

Location:

Box: 75. Folder: PP/CRI/I/3/8/4

Rights:

Reproduced with permission of James D. Watson.

Genre:

Letters (correspondence)

Subject:

DNA and Ethics, Professional

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:

SCBBLB

NLM ID:

101584582X147

Profiles Collection:

The Francis Crick Papers

Shareable Link:

https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/101584582X147

Story Section:

The Discovery of the Double Helix, 1951-1953