Francis Crick

Lore & Background

Crick was born on 8 June 1916 in Weston Favell, near Northampton, England, the first son of Harry Crick and Annie Elizabeth Crick. His grandfather, Walter Drawbridge Crick, was an amateur naturalist who corresponded with Charles Darwin. As a child, Crick was attracted to science and by about age 12 he preferred a scientific search for answers over religious belief. He attended Northampton Grammar School and later Mill Hill School in London on a scholarship, where he studied mathematics, physics, and chemistry. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from University College London in 1937 and began a PhD there, but his work was interrupted by World War II when a bomb destroyed his experimental apparatus. During the war, he worked for the Admiralty Research Laboratory, designing magnetic and acoustic mines.

After the war, Crick began studying biology in 1947, joining a migration of physical scientists into biological research. He worked at the Strangeways Research Laboratory and then at the Cavendish Laboratory under Sir Lawrence Bragg, where he collaborated with James Watson. Crick and Watson's 1953 paper in Nature described the helical structure of DNA. Crick is widely known for coining the term 'central dogma,' summarizing that information flows from nucleic acids to proteins and cannot flow back. Later in his career, he held the post of J.W. Kieckhefer Distinguished Research Professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, where his research focused on theoretical neurobiology and the scientific study of human consciousness. He remained there until his death in 2004.

Reader's Guide

Francis Crick's significance lies in his foundational contributions to molecular biology, particularly the elucidation of DNA's helical structure alongside James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins. This discovery, published in 1953, revolutionized biology by revealing the molecular basis of heredity. Crick's formulation of the central dogma—that genetic information flows from nucleic acids to proteins irreversibly—provided a core framework for understanding gene expression. His shift from physics to biology exemplified a broader movement of physical scientists into life sciences, bringing new approaches. Later, Crick turned to theoretical neurobiology, seeking to advance the scientific study of human consciousness. His legacy endures through the Nobel Prize, the ongoing influence of the central dogma, and the Francis Crick Institute in London, which received a portion of the sale of his Nobel medal. Crick's work remains a cornerstone of modern genetics and molecular biology.

Did You Know?

• Crick's grandfather, Walter Drawbridge Crick, was an amateur naturalist who corresponded with Charles Darwin and had two gastropods named after him.
• During World War II, Crick worked for the Admiralty Research Laboratory designing magnetic and acoustic mines.
• Crick signed the 1995 Ashley Montagu Resolution petitioning the International Court of Justice to help end genital mutation of children.
• Crick's Nobel Prize medal and diploma were sold at auction in June 2013 for $2,270,000.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Francis Harry Compton Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was a British physicist, molecular biologist and neuroscientist, most noted for being one of the co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953." — Francis Crick "The ultimate aim of the modern movement in biology is in fact to explain all biology in terms of physics and chemistry." — Francis Crick "Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1966, p. 10." — Francis Crick "And so to those of you who may be vitalists I would make this prophecy: what everyone believed yesterday, and you believe today, only cranks will believe tomorrow." — Francis Crick