Francis Crick

British biologist

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Francis Harry Compton Crick, a British biologist and physicist, neuroscience Home. The most important achievement was in 1953 University of Cambridge Cavendish Laboratory And James Watson Found together Deoxyribonucleic acid DNA Double helix structure 。 So the two people also Maurice Wilkins Jointly obtained the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine , this medal is now kept in Biomobie Regenerative Medical Center^[1] 。

On July 28, 2004, due to Colorectal cancer Death from illness. Koch, one of his colleagues, sighed: "He was still revising a paper before his death; he was still a scientist until his death.".

Chinese name: Francis Haley Compton Crick
Foreign name: Francis Harry Compton Crick
Nationality: britain
date of birth: June 8, 1916
Date of death: July 28, 2004

University one is graduated from: University College London, Cambridge University
Key achievements: DNA structure 、 consciousness
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1962)
Royal Society academician
Academy of France academician
one's native heath: Weston Favre, Northamptonshire, UK

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Life

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Francis Crick was born on June 8, 1916 England North Hampton. As a child, Crick was full of curiosity and questions about scientific problems.

He was University of London Learning physics, World War II The outbreak of British Navy The Ministry of Commerce studies and manufactures mines. After World War II, he“ Biological and abiotic He was very interested in the difference between Organic chemistry As well as crystallography, he did not have any foundation. In the following years, he spent a lot of time to learn these knowledge by himself and completed the transformation from a physicist to a biologist. This is his first conversion of subject areas.

In 1937 University College London Studied and obtained a bachelor's degree in physics.

In 1947, Crick entered University of Cambridge The Stangwis Laboratory of the University of California participated in the research work. Then he joined Cambridge University Cavendish Laboratory 。 An important turning point in his academic career was in 1951 with American scientists James Watson (James Dewey Watson). Because of the same research interest, the two people can be said to hit it off. Although they are both doing research on protein crystal structure, they are both interested in "what exactly is gene", and they believe that once they understand DNA It will be very helpful to understand the truth of heredity.

In 1952, American chemist Linus Pauling published a research report on the three strand DNA model, which is called Alpha helix 。 Watson and Wilkins Franklin and others discussed Pauling's model. Wilkins showed his colleague Rosalind Franklin (Rosalind Franklin) In the DNAX ray diffraction photos taken a year ago, Watson saw that the inside of DNA is a spiral structure, and he immediately came up with a new concept: DNA is not a triple strand structure but should be Double chain Structure.

They continued to explore in depth along this line of thought, and first reached a consensus in theory: DNA is a double strand Helical structure 。 Then Watson and Crick took immediate action and jointly started building in the laboratory DNA double helix The model finally succeeded in building their imagined DNA model on March 7, 1953.

On April 25, 1953, Crick and Watson cooperated in the《 natural 》A paper entitled "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids -- A Possible Structure of DNA" was published in the journal. Their paper is praised as "a symbol of biology, which has created a new era". On this basis, Crick further analyzed the DNA Life activities The famous Central rule , thus laying the foundation for the whole molecular genetics The foundation of. Crick, together with Vernon Ingram, discovered genetic material It is known as the "father of molecular biology" for its role in determining protein characteristics.

Because Watson, Crick and Wilkins DNA molecule In 1962, the three of them shared their research contributions Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine , the reason for winning the award is "discovering the molecular structure of nucleic acid and its effect on biological information transfer Importance of ".

In 1966, when biomedical science After the basic outline of has been clearly outlined, Crick believes that it is to turn the interest to neuroscience In particular, it is time for the issue of "consciousness". In 1976, he came to the picturesque California San Diego Of Salk Institute of Biology , began to engage in the research of brain and consciousness - at this time, he was 60 years old and began the second major transformation of his scientific career.

He is History of Science For the first time, it was explicitly proposed that the problem of consciousness can be solved by means of natural science. Therefore, Hogan praised in The End of Science that "only Nixon To open the diplomatic deadlock with China; Similarly, only Crick can make consciousness a legitimate scientific object ".

Crick began to think about the nature of consciousness, but instead of taking the path of experiment, he decided to start with theoretical research. Another characteristic of his research on consciousness is that he not only studies problems from the molecular perspective he is familiar with, but also focuses on psychology Neuroanatomy And neurophysiology, and even from the philosophical level, in order to build a bridge connecting various fields.

In the mid-1990s, Crick pointed out in his popular science work "Amazing Hypothesis: Scientific Exploration of Soul" that some of our thoughts and consciousness can be used neuron Of Interaction This is his "amazing hypothesis" about consciousness.

As part of Crick's interest in the nature of consciousness, he also studied the complex problem of human dreams. Of course, the purpose of Crick's research is not the dream itself, but the neural network. He believes that only by understanding how the neural groups interact and Collaboration To understand the brain. This complex interaction between nerve groups sometimes occurs in sleep and rapid eye movement. Crick hopes to study dreams as evidence of neural interaction.

At the beginning of 2003, Crick《 Nature Neuroscience 》The magazine published a paper "The Framework of Consciousness", proposing that consciousness is not innate, but is located in the brain“ Buckle The anterior gyrus is generated and controlled by a small group of neurons. His thesis once again established the commanding height of his consciousness problem cognitive science The wide attention of the world. This is the twilight of his life. Crick has sounded the clarion call for young scientists around the world: Brain Science There is still a long way to go, but its attraction and significance will inevitably push it forward.

In his book Life Itself: Its Origin and Nature, Crick proposed that The theory of having students Theory to explain the origin of life.

Although he believes that Cosmic space The theory that the microorganism or biological compound of is the origin of life on earth is still out of the mainstream of science, but the various support and opposition opinions triggered by this theory are enlightening and constructive.

In his book What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery in the 1980s, Crick quickly conveyed his enthusiasm for scientific knowledge of life itself with his relaxed personal style. Although he is no longer like the former leader molecular biology He is also at the forefront of research, but he is eager to promote research on the nature of brain and consciousness. Interestingly, the book was written by Tang Xiaowei Academician Translation and Publishing (China University of Science and Technology Press, 1995), Academician Tang Xiaowei's interest is also from Atomic bomb Design changes to brain science.

In addition to his extensive contributions to science in his lifetime, let us remember Crick's scientific spirit and personality charm.

Perhaps Crick is not the most intelligent scientist, but he has the most important qualities of an excellent scientist: keen insight and perseverance. DNA double helix structure It is not complicated. It is he and Watson who made this great discovery, not other scientists of their time. In Crick's own words, it is: "I think the most commendable thing for James and me is that we chose the right problem and fought for it unremittingly. It is true that we stumble and make mistakes all the way to find gold, but the fact is that we are still looking for gold. "

In life, this dedicated researcher likes to talk loudly. Whether he walks along the river, eats or chats in the Eagle Lounge, he can talk for hours at a time. He is an ideal research partner and a sincere friend. Watson said: "I will always remember Francis, remember his superior and focused wisdom, remember his kindness to me and help me build confidence".

In 2001, Professor Wang Yunjiu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences went to San Diego The Salk Institute of Biology visited Professor Crick and discussed with him the theory of studying consciousness. Crick had never been to China, but he expressed strong interest in the ancient oriental countries. He said it was a pity that his body and legs would no longer allow him to travel internationally, but he was also interested in《 An astonishing hypothesis 》The Chinese version has a preface.

Biological research

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Crick is interested in two problems in biology: one is how molecules change from inanimate matter to living things; 2、 How the brain produces ideas. He later realized that his education was very suitable for becoming a biophysicist. At that time, Crick received a lot of physical scientist , for example Pauline and Schrodinger And others. theoretically, covalent bond You can set Biomolecule Connect them and become the basis of genes. But in fact, biologists still need to know which molecule makes the whole structure alive. For Crick, as long as Darwin Created by natural selection theory of evolution and Mendel The research conducted in the field of genes can be collected together to obtain the secret of life. However, when he realized how difficult it is to form life naturally, he said: "An honest person, no matter how much he knows, can only say that the origin of life is almost a miracle, because there are many conditions to be met!" In short, he called himself "strongly inclined to atheism A skeptic of ".

At that time, many biologists had realized that protein Such polymers are likely to be the basic materials of genes. However, proteins are only structural and functional polymers, and many are enzymes. In the 1940s, biologists began to discover another polymer: Deoxyribonucleic acid This is another important structure of chromosomes, which may be the source of genes. Oswald Avery And his colleagues found that bacteria can replace Gene addition DNA molecule Resulting in different genotypes. But there is also evidence that DNA Has nothing to do with the biologist's goals; DNA may just provide a basic framework for more important protein molecules. At this time, Crick joined the University of Cambridge Max Perutz The research team of X-ray To study protein crystallization. In theory, this kind of research provided scientists with a good opportunity to thoroughly understand the structure of large molecules, but in fact, there were too many technical problems, making the use of X-ray was not suitable for studying molecular crystallization at that time.

X-ray crystallography

Crick learned by himself X-ray crystallography The foundation of mathematical theory. During this time, University of Cambridge Researchers are trying to identify the most stable protein Spiral chain Model—— Alpha helix 。 Pauling was the first to discover that amino acid : Scientists who rotate=3.6. Crick himself witnessed the mistakes made by his colleagues in studying the alpha helix, and successfully avoided similar scenarios in studying the structure of DNA.

Double helix structure

Crick's sketch of DNA structure

In 1951, Crick, together with William Cochran and Vladimir Vand, launched Spiral Molecular X-ray diffraction The mathematical theory of. The results obtained from this mathematical theory and the belief that Alpha helix Of protein X-ray The experimental results are in good agreement. This result was published in the first issue of 1952 natural Published in magazines. Spirochete Diffraction theory is very helpful to study the structure of DNA.

Since the end of 1951, Crick has been in England with Watson University of Cambridge Of Cavendish Laboratory Work in. They use King's College London Scientists of Maurice Wilkins Raymond Gosling and Rosalind Franklin Anthropogenic X-ray diffraction Based on the experimental results of the Structural model And published the research results in 1953^[2] 。

When Watson came to Cambridge, Crick, 35, was only a graduate student, while Watson, 23, had a doctorate, but they were both molecular structure How to store genetic information I am very interested in this question. They kept discussing, thinking that they might be able to guess a good molecular structure that could explain this problem. In November 1951, Wilkins and his student Raymond Gosling arrived University of Cambridge And provide Watson and Crick with a very important experimental result, that is, Wilkins and his colleague Alexander Stokes, recently X-ray diffraction The results of the experiment realized that the structure of DNA must be spiral. Their experimental results and Franklin's later lesson encouraged Watson and Crick to continue to study the helical molecular structure, but they (especially Watson) thought that Pauling might be ahead of them to publish the research results, so they released a wrong model in a hurry. Their enthusiasm has been hit to a certain extent; In recent months, they have not done much research in this area. At this time, Franklin found and pointed out their mistake - hydrophilic in DNA phosphate It should be located on the surface of the spiral, and the hydrophobic alkaline part should be located inside the spiral; In their model, the phosphate position is inside the spiral, which is obviously incorrect.

Crick described the mistake of their original model to Wilkins, and asked him and Franklin to continue to help Watson and Crick study the molecular structure of DNA. Wilkins provided them with the latest and unpublished X-ray diffraction Image; Franklin also provided them with her analysis of these images in 1952 (these analyses were included in an experimental report she submitted to Randall at King's University in London) Molecular model Confidence.

In early 1952, Crick asked Griffith to try to use the basic chemical principles and quantum mechanics Calculate the different nucleotide The attraction between. Griffith's results show that Guanine (G) And cytosine (C) Attract each other, and adenine (A) And Thymine (T) It is also the same pair. At this time, Crick did not realize the importance of this result. At the end of 1952, Chagov came to England to meet Watson and Crick, and told them his new discovery, namely Chagov's rule (also known as the base equivalent rule). This rule contains two ratios: the ratio of guanine (G) to cytosine (C) is 1:1, and the ratio of adenine (A) to thymine (T) is 1:1, which is the same as that calculated by Griffith. Watson suddenly realized later that the structure of A: T and C: G is very similar. They are both the same length, and the two molecules in each pair are connected by hydrogen bonds. Watson and Crick completed the study of DNA molecular structure after synthesizing the findings of Chagov et al.

On April 25, 1953, Watson and Crick《 natural 》The journal publishes the research results., Cavendish Laboratory director Lawrence Bragg Sir Richard Calder published an article in the London News Chronicle on May 15, 1953, describing the content of the speech. 《 New York Times 》The next day, the report will discuss Crick's life. The article will be titled "Watson and DNA: Creating Once scientific revolution ”。 University of Cambridge The student newspaper Varsity also published a short article on Saturday, May 30, 1953. In 1962, Watson, Crick and Wilkins were awarded the award for DNA research Nobel Prize in Medicine^[3] 。

molecular biology

In 1954, at the age of 37, Crick completed his doctoral thesis: "X-ray Crystallography Peptides and proteins. Crick then New York University of Technology He continued his work in protein X-ray crystallography Analytical research , the main objective is Ribonuclease And Protein Biosynthesis Mechanism.

Crick is discovering DNA double helix structure model Later, he quickly turned his focus to the significance of biological structure. In 1953, Watson and Crick published another article in Nature: "It seems that it may be the basic program carrying genetic information code".

In 1956, Crick and Watson speculated on the internal structure of small viruses and believed that spherical viruses were composed of 60 identical Subunit Composed of, for example tomato Cluster stunting virus.

After he worked briefly in New York, Crick returned University of Cambridge , until 1976. Crick moved during this period California Settle down. Crick cooperated with Alexander to use X-ray diffraction To conduct research, such as collagen protein Structure.

Russia scientist George Gamov Organize a group of scientists to RNA Conduct research. Crick clearly realized that there must be a short sequence of nucleotide Code to specify the formation of a specific amino acid in a new protein. In 1956, Crick wrote an article about Genetic code Problem paper. In this article, Crick proposed the evidence that proteins are synthesized from about 20 amino acids.

Between the mid and late 1950s, Crick continued to study protein synthesis. By 1958, Crick could list all protein synthesis Key procedures in the process.

Francis Crick proposed in 1958 molecular biology Central rule In 1970, he reiterated in Nature that the central law of molecular biology was intended to specify the word for word transmission of serial information, which pointed out that genetic information It cannot be transferred from protein to protein or nucleic acid.

DNA → RNA → protein

Publishing books

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An astonishing hypothesis
Author name Francis Crick
Work time 2004-1
The Amazing Hypothesis is a popular science book created by Francis Crick. The author believes that all conscious activities of human beings are just the collective behavior of a large group of nerve cells and their molecules. As long as we can find the nerve related substances of consciousness, we can know consciousness (including the consciousness of others).
mad pursuit
Author name Francis Crick
Work time 2020-9
The Crazy Pursuit is a book published by China Science and Technology Press in 1994 by Francis Crick. This book mainly describes the author's scientific research experience and experience from the eve of the discovery of the double helix in the early 1950s to the decoding of the genetic code in the mid-1960s.
Life: Origin and Essence
Author name Francis Crick
Work time 1993-3
Title: Life: Origin and Essence Author: ISBN No.: 7-110-02646-9 Price: 3.80 Place of publication: Beijing Press: Science Popularization Press Publication time: 1993. 3 Pages: Format:

Extended Reading

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DNA structure A letter from Francis Crick, a British scientist who was the discoverer of RMB 32.86 million yuan) was bought by anonymous people^[4] 。 Crick wrote a seven page letter to Michael, his son who was only 12 years old and was studying in boarding school. Crick said in his letter, Double helix of DNA The structure is very "beautiful". He also wrote: "Read carefully before you can understand it. After you go home, we will show you the model." The letter was signed on March 19, 1953. add Auction commission The total price of Crick's letter is more than 6 million dollars Auction price Far more than the President of the United States in 2008 Lincoln 3.4 million dollars (including commission) of mail auction.

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