Letter from Jerry Donohue to Francis Crick

Letter from Jerry Donohue to Francis Crick

Contributor(s):
Donohue, Jerry
The Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine. Francis Harry Compton Crick Papers
Crick, Francis, 1916-2004
Publication:
Produced: 10 August 1970
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
DNA
Crystallography, X-Ray
Genre(s):
Archival Materials
Letters (correspondence)
Abstract:
In his letter Donohue recited his contention that Fourier analysis of recent X-ray diffraction data did not conclusively prove the validity of Watson's and Crick's model of base-pairing in DNA. (Fourier analysis is a mathematical technique used to calculate the periodic functions that arise in situations of cylindrical symmetry, such as in fiber crystals of DNA.) Instead, Donohue claimed that the data was compatible with alternative base-pairings as well. Donohue dismissed biochemical evidence for the Watson-Crick model of DNA, for instance evidence for the antiparallel direction of the two strands, as irrelevant to his argument, which he claimed was based on crystallography, not biochemistry.. Crick did not in fact publish the "considered article" he mentioned in Donohue's letter. However, in a retrospective, "The Double Helix: A Personal View," published in the April 26, 1974, issue of Nature (vol. 248, p.768), Crick summarized that Donohue, "whose advice was crucial to our understanding of base pairing, was a persistent critic of the validity of the later X-ray work, but in recent years he had carried it too far . . ."
Copyright:
This item may be under copyright protection; contact the copyright owner for permission before re-use.
Extent:
2 pages
NLM Unique ID:
101584582X184 (See in Profiles in Science)
Profiles in Science ID:
SCBBMX
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101584582X184
Archival Collection:
The Francis Crick Papers (Profiles in Science)