James Watson Essay

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Before the twentieth century no one knew where human life or genes came from as this information was unknown to the world. There were many scientists involved in establishing genetics. The discovery of the double helix and DNA has helped to shape the world of genetics as we know it today. The discovery of the double helix was the most important medical finding in human history because it opened the gateway to gene testing, gene mapping, and genetic engineering. James Dewey Watson was a very educated child from a young age. Watson was born on April 6, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois. Watson attended Horace Mann Grammar and then went on to attend South Shore High School (“James D. Watson”). From a very young age, Watson was very interested with nature and with birds (Gibbs). At the age of fifteen, he earned a scholarship to the University of Chicago. Then, in 1947 he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Zoology. Watson then went on to attend The Indiana University in Bloomington. He received his Ph.D. in Zoology. Watson’s graduate study was influenced by the work of H.J. Muller and T.M. Sonneborn both working in the field of genetics and S.E. Lurida a microbiologist. Watson’s Ph.D. thesis was done on the effects X-rays had on bacteriophage multiplication. While Watson was doing his thesis study, he became interested in the work that scientist were …show more content…

In 1950, Watson began his postdoctoral studies. Watson began as a Merck Fellow at the National Research Council in Copenhagen. During this time, he started investigating the structure of DNA in bacterial viruses. In 1951, Watson saw a crystalline DNA X-ray diffraction pattern for the first time. While working with X-rays and learning more diffraction techniques, Watson meet Francis Crick for the first time. Both Watson and Crick had an interest in finding the structure of DNA(“James D. Watson”). Francis Crick would be a major part in finding the structure of

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