25 JUL 2013 by ideonexus
Science and Everyday Life Cannot be Separated
You frequently state, and in your letter you imply, that I have developed a completely one-sided outlook and look at everything in terms of science. Obviously my method of thought and reasoning is influenced by a scientific training – if that were not so my scientific training will have been a waste and a failure. But you look at science (or at least talk of it) as some sort of demoralizing invention of man, something apart from real life, and which must be cautiously guarded and kept separat... 1 
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notesA good passage from Rosalind Franklin covering science and spirituality.
17 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
Faith in this World Is Possible Without Faith in Another
Science, for me, gives a partial explanation of life. In so far as it goes, it is based on fact, experience and experiment. Your theories are those which you and many other people find easiest and pleasantest to believe, but, so far as I can see, they have no foundation other than they lead to a pleasant view of life ... I agree that faith is essential to success in life ... but I do not accept your definition of faith, i.e. belief in life after death. In my view, all that is necessary for fa...
1 Quoting Rosalind Franklin.
10 AUG 2011 by ideonexus
Watson's Afterward Concerning Rosalind Franklin
All of these people, should they desire, can indicate events and details they remember differently. But there is one unfortunate exception. In 1958, Rosalind Franklin died at the early age of thirty-seven. Since my initial impressions of her, both scientific and personal (as recorded in the early pages of this book), were often wrong, I want to say something here about her achievements. The X-ray work she did at King's is increasingly regarded as superb. The sorting out of the A and B forms, ... 1 notes
notesIs it wrong to consider him a sexist, when he corrects his perceptions of her earlier in the text, and in the afterword admits he didn't understand the struggles of women scientists.
10 AUG 2011 by ideonexus
Watson Admits to Misunderstanding Rosalind Franklin
Rosy's instant acceptance of our model at first amazed me. I had feared that her sharp, stubborn mind, caught in her self-made antihelical trap, might dig up irrelevant results that would foster uncertainty about the correctness of the double helix. Nonetheless, like almost everyone else, she saw the appeal of the base pairs and accepted the fact that the structure was too pretty not to be true. Moreover, even before she learned of our proposal, the X-ray evidence had been forcing her more th... 1 notes
notesHe mistook her skepticism for feminism and not scientific integrity.
10 AUG 2011 by ideonexus
Watson Describes a Talk by Rosalind Franklin
BY mid-November, when Rosy's talk on DNA rolled about, I had learned enough crystallographic argument to follow much of her lecture.. Most important, I knew what to focus attention upon. Six weeks of listening to Francis had made me realize that the crux of the matter was whether Rosy's new X-ray pictures would lend any sup-port for a helical DNA structure. The really relevant experimental details were those which might provide clues in constructing molecular models. It took, however, only a ... 1 notes
notesAnd, curiously, remarks on his momentary thoughts about how she could make herself more attractive.
10 AUG 2011 by ideonexus
Watson Describes Rosalind Franklin
Even worse, Maurice continually frustrated Francis by never seeming enthusiastic enough about DNA. He appeared to enjoy slowly understating important arguments. It was not a question of intelligence or common sense Maurice clearly had both; witness his seizing DNA before almost everyone else. It was that Francis felt he could never get the message over to Maurice that you did not move cautiously when you were holding dynamite like DNA. Moreover, it was increasingly difficult to take Maurice's... 1 notes
notesThere some sexism here, but Watson is so candid describing everyone in his book.
