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
Sir Lawrence Bragg grew furious when he learned about Crick and Watson’s unsuccessful meeting with Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin. In fact, Bragg worried that he might have to deal with Crick for the rest of his career, because Crick might never finish his PhD. Thus, he declared that Crick and Watson had to stop working on DNA. This would give Maurice Wilkins his fair shot to study it first, and it would give Crick time to finish his PhD.
Crick and Watson’s failure didn’t just embarrass them: it also harmed their entire lab’s reputation. Thus, Bragg saw their forays into DNA research as not just foolish but also deeply selfish. While Crick and Watson were too busy dreaming about fame to think through their decision, Bragg suggests, responsible scientists evaluate their decisions’ personal and professional consequences before they act.
Themes
Crick and Watson agreed to stop researching DNA. After all, they had already realized that their model simply didn’t work because it was impossible for the sugar-phosphate backbone to fit in the middle of the helix. Plus, they couldn’t expect Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin to share data with them anymore. They gifted Wilkins and Franklin their molecular models, knowing that they wouldn’t get used.
Crick and Watson failed in part because they underestimated the complexity of the problem that they faced. However, their failure also led them to important insights—for instance, if they decided to continue working on DNA later, they could now discard models with the sugar-phosphate backbone in the middle. Crucially, they also realized that their mistake hurt key professional relationships. They understood how this would affect their ability to collaborate with other scientists in the future. Thus, they began to clearly see how relationships form the foundation for good science.
Themes
Crick and Watson concluded that nobody would be cracking the code of DNA anytime soon, at least in the UK. Crick returned to his thesis research on proteins, while Watson started studying theoretical chemistry. But during their free time, they kept talking about DNA. For Christmas, Crick gave Watson a copy of Linus Pauling’s book The Nature of the Chemical Bond.
Crick and Watson quickly lost the sense of purpose and excitement that came with their DNA research. In particular, once Watson put this short-term thrill aside, he had to start thinking about a sustainable, long-term direction for his career. Meanwhile, Crick’s ordinary research was slow-paced, predictable, and relatively unlikely to change the world. Clearly, both Crick and Watson had to find a balance between these the two sides of science: the high-stakes world of DNA and the boring but stable world of ordinary lab experiments.
Themes
