Summary: On February 28th 1953, James Watson and his collaborator Francis Crick made a momentous discovery at the Cambridge laboratory where they were working. They had determined the double-helix structure of the molecule DNA, of which all living matter is made. Watson and Crick became world famous, sharing the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Maurice Wilkins. Their discovery revolutionised the study of biology and genetics, making possible the DNA techniques used by today's biotechnology industry. Watson is known as the enfant terrible of molecular biology. In 1968 he published his account of the DNA discovery, The Double Helix. The book became an international best-seller, but some in the scientific community were scandalised by Watson's portrayal of the faults and foibles of his colleagues and the snipings and rivalries of the scientific world. Since then he has frequently been embroiled in controversy for his views on genetic screening and genetic engineering. But Watson insists that devotion to the truth as he sees it is as essential in dealing with the general public as it is in scientific research. James Watson will be in conversation with Brenda Maddox, biographer of Rosalind Franklin, the scientist who made a significant contribution to learning about the structure of DNA but whose role was largely unacknowledged in her lifetime.
