Double Helix

RYBA – wiedzieli ? i czuli ?

James D. Watson

Biology, CC BY-SA 2.0

Among the books I read as a teenager, two completely changed my life. One was The Double Helix by Nobel laureate James D. Watson. This book was inspiring at many levels and instantly got me addicted to molecular biology. The other was King Solomon’s Ring by Konrad Lorenz, soon to be a Nobel laureate. The study of animal behaviour so charmingly and unforgettably described by Lorenz kindled in me an eternal love for the subject.

Spuścizną Lorenza jest wiele artykułów opublikowanych, w większości po niemiecku, w czasopismach naukowych. Najbardziej znane są jego książki popularne (najważniejsze to Tak zwane zło i Opowiadania o zwierzętach), z których wiele zostało przetłumaczonych na język polski.

Za swój dorobek został w 1983 roku doceniony honorowym doktoratem uniwersytetu w Salzburgu. W roku 2015 pośmiertnie pozbawiono go tego wyróżnienia ze względu na nazistowską przeszłość (w 1938 roku Lorenz złożył wniosek o przyjęcie do NSDAP)^[3].

The circumstances in which I read these two books are etched in my mind and may have partly contributed to my enthusiasm for them and their subjects. The Double Helix was first published in London in 1968 when I was a pre-university student (equivalent to 11th grade) at St Joseph’s college in Bangalore and was planning to apply for the prestigious National Science Talent Search Scholarship. By then, I had heard of the discovery of the double-helical structure of DNA and its profound implications. I was also tickled that this momentous discovery was made in 1953, the year of my birth.

I saw the announcement of Watson’s book on the notice board in the British Council Library, one of my frequent haunts. Reading the conspicuous blurb on the front cover by C.P. Snow – “Like nothing else in literature, it gives one the feel of how creative science really happens. It opens a new world for the general non-scientific reader” – I was struck as if by lightning. But the book was nowhere on the shelves, not even on the ‘New Arrivals’ shelf. I went up to the head librarian and demanded the book. He made some inquiries and said that the first copy had just arrived in the Madras (now Chennai) branch of the library and did not know if and when a copy would be available in the Bangalore branch. I told him that I must read it immediately.