Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Double Helix, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Research, Adventure, and the Thrill of Discovery
Scientific Collaboration, Competition, and Community
DNA and the Secret of Life
Academic Life and the University
Summary
Analysis
“I have never seen Francis Crick in a modest mood,” Watson begins. While Crick is famous today, he was unknown when Watson arrived at Cambridge in 1951. At the time, Crick was working in Max Perutz and Sir Lawrence Bragg’s Cavendish Laboratory, which studied proteins through X-ray diffraction. Crick did some experiments, but he was mainly focused on the theory of protein structures. He was constantly explaining his new ideas to everyone around him. Most people appreciated his talkativeness and boisterous laughter—except Bragg, who couldn’t stand him.
Watson highlights Crick’s eccentric personality, sharp wit, and utterly unfocused research agenda. In this way, he portrays Crick as a brilliant underdog trying to prove his worth. This portrait of Crick shows that behind the scenes, research really depends on scientists’ personalities and relationships. Watson’s problem seemed to be that he was too curious about the truths of the universe to dedicate enough time to any specific problem.
Themes
Crick frequently visited other scientists’ labs to learn about their experiments and suggest future directions for their research. But many of these other scientists were afraid of him, because they thought he would quickly surpass them and expose their incompetence. Always the nonconformist, Crick also didn’t join any of the colleges at Cambridge.
Crick clearly had bittersweet relationships with other scientists and the University of Cambridge as a whole. While he was popular and well-liked, people (and institutions) also kept their distance from him. Crick’s outsider status clearly bothered him—but it also gave a greater significance to his relationship with Watson. Moreover, fellow scientists’ interest in collaborating with Crick and fear of being upstaged by him show how academics face contradictory incentives: they have to care about scientific discoveries and their own reputations.
Themes
