Crick, Francis (1916–2004)

Francis Harry Compton Crick was not only codiscoverer of the DNA double helix, but also [Page 193]maintained a long career as a science communicator. Born near Northampton, England, the son of a shoe manufacturer, Crick began a PhD in physics before World War II at University College, London. During the war, he worked for the Royal Navy on the design and the detection of mines. Like many physicists after the war, he decided to move to biology and applied for funding in 1947. He began cell biophysics in Cambridge, England, and in 1949, he opted for protein crystallography, rejoining Max Perutz's unit for the study of the structure of biological systems at the Cavendish Laboratory, directed by Lawrence Bragg. There, he worked toward a PhD ...