Professor Francis Crick

Born 8th June, 1916 (Weston Favell, United Kingdom) - Died 28th July, 2004 (San Diego, California, United States of America)

Together with James Watson, Francis Crick discovered the double-helix structure of DNA. This they did with the help of earlier research by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins. Crick also developed the theoretical framework for understanding how genetic information travels in cells.

(Photo credit: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology)

Family

Francis Crick was the eldest of two boys born and raised in a small village near Northampton, where his father and uncle ran a family boot and shoe factory. Crick developed a fascination for science and how life began at an early age. In part this was inspired by his grandfather, an amateur naturalist who corresponded with Charles Darwin and had two gastropods (snails/slug) named after him. Crick married twice, first to Ruth Dodd in 1940 with whom he had a son, and then to Odile Speed with whom he had two daughters.

Education

Crick initially attended Northampton Grammar School and then won a scholarship to Mill Hill School in London. In 1937 he went to University College, London, where he completed a physics degree and started a doctorate, but this was interrupted by World War II. In 1947 he was awarded a Medical Research Council studentship to pursue a doctorate in biophysics in Cambridge. This allowed him to join research teams first at Strangeways Research Laboratories and then the Medical Research Unit at the Cavendish Research Unit. He completed a doctorate in 1954 on the use of X-ray crystallography to study the structure of proteins.

Career

From the start of World War II to 1947 Crick was part of the British Admiralty Research Laboratory, where he participated in radar and magnetic mine development and then scientific intelligence. From 1949 to 1976 he was attached to the Cavendish Research Unit where he focused on unravelling the structure of DNA. In 1976 Crick moved to the Salk Institute in San Diego where he turned his attention to studies of the brain and consciousness, focusing on the interaction between neurons and various chemical processes in the body.

Achievements

Crick is most well known for his collaboration with Jim Watson, also based at the Cavendish, which determined the three-dimensional structure of DNA to be a double helix. Published in 1953, this work paved the way to new understandings of how genetic material is stored and copied allowing for new ways of looking and manipulating biological processes. Awarded a Nobel Prize for this work in 1962, along with Watson and Maurice Wilkins, Crick also made fundamental contributions to unlocking the genetic code of DNA and providing a framework for understanding how genetic information travels in cells.

Francis Crick: timeline of key events

Crick is best known for the work he did with James Watson that identified the double-helix structure of DNA in 1953, for which he shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1962. He also developed the central dogma of molecular biology which explained how genetic information flowed within a biological system, moving from DNA to RNA and then protein. His subsequent work looked at the way in which the brain works and the nature of consciousness. 1916-06-08T00:00:00+0000One paper, published by Rosalind Franklin with her PhD student Ray Gosling, included an image produced with x-ray crystallography, which showed DNA to have regularly repeating helical structure. Known as photograph 51, this image had been previously been shown by Maurice Wilkins, without Franklin's permission, to James Watson, who, together with Francis Crick, used it to develop their double-helix model of DNA which was also published in Nature. Calculations from the photograph provided crucial parameters for the size of the helix and its structure, all of which were critical for Watson and Crick's molecular modelling work. Crick and Watson depicted DNA as having a double helix in which A always pairs with T, and C always with G. Their final model represented a correction of an earlier model in the light of comments made by Franklin that the hydrophilic backbones should not go at the centre of the molecule, as Watson and Crick had originally assumed, but go on the outside of the molecule where they could interact with water. The three papers were published in Nature, 171 (25 April 1953), 737-41.1953-04-25T00:00:00+0000Now known as the 'central dogma' in molecular biology, Crick presented his theory to the Society for Experimental Biology. He proposed that RNA acted as an intermediary between DNA and proteins, helping to translate information in the DNA into proteins and that three bases in the DNA always specify one amino acid in a protein. 1957-09-19T00:00:00+0000Sydney Brenner and Francis Crick came up with the idea while trying to solve the condrum posed by an earlier experiment carried out by by Arthur Pardee and Francis Jacob which contradicted conventional thinking about how the ribosome functioned. the puzzle was how a ribsosome, a complex structure made up of proteins and RNA, could translate a transferred gene so quickly. 1960-04-15T00:00:00+0000The award was given to James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins. The work of these individuals was built upon that of Rosalind Franklin who died before the Nobel Prize was awarded. 1962-10-18T00:00:00+0000The prize was awarded to James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins who helped to show that the DNA molecule consists of two strands that wind round each other like a twisted ladder. They argued that each strand contains a backbone made up of alternating groups of sugar (deoxyribose) and phosphate groups and that each sugar had an attached one of four nucelotide bases: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), or thymine (T). Much of this work rested on the work of Rosalind Franklin and and her student Ray Gosling. Franklin died before the Nobel Prize was awarded. 1962-10-19T00:00:00+0000Crick is best known for the work he did with James Watson that identified the double-helix structure of DNA in 1953, for which he shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1962. He also developed the central dogma of molecular biology which explained how genetic information flowed within a biological system, moving from DNA to RNA and then protein. His subsequent work looked at the way in which the brain works and the nature of consciousness.2004-07-28T00:00:00+0000
Date Event People Places
8 Jun 1916Francis H C Crick was born in Northampton, UKCrickLaboratory of Molecular Biology
25 Apr 1953Nature published three papers showing the molecular structure of DNA to be a double helixFranklin, Gosling, Crick, Watson, Wilkins. Stokes, WilsonBirkbeck College, Kings College London, Cambridge University
19 Sep 1957Francis Crick presented the theory that the main function of genetic material is to control the synthesis of proteinsCrickCavendish Laboratory
15 Apr 1960Messenger RNA conceived as carrying genetic information from the gene in the nucleus to the protein synthetic machinery in the cytoplasmBrenner, Crick, Monod, Francois Jacob, Pardee 
18 Oct 1962Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine awarded for determining the structure of DNAWatson, Crick, WilkinsLaboratory of Molecular Biology
19 Oct 1962Nobel Prize awarded for uncovering the structure of DNAWatson, Crick, Wilkins, Franklin, GoslingUniversity of Cambridge, King's College London, Birkbeck College
28 Jul 2004Francis H C Crick diedCrickLaboratory of Molecular Biology

8 Jun 1916

Francis H C Crick was born in Northampton, UK

25 Apr 1953

Nature published three papers showing the molecular structure of DNA to be a double helix

19 Sep 1957

Francis Crick presented the theory that the main function of genetic material is to control the synthesis of proteins

15 Apr 1960

Messenger RNA conceived as carrying genetic information from the gene in the nucleus to the protein synthetic machinery in the cytoplasm

18 Oct 1962

Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine awarded for determining the structure of DNA

19 Oct 1962

Nobel Prize awarded for uncovering the structure of DNA

28 Jul 2004

Francis H C Crick died

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