GENETICIST JAMES WATSON AND FRANCIS CRICK, a molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist by trade, conducted no DNA experiments of their own, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. And yet in 1953, in the final few years leading up to the space race, they discovered the DNA molecule known as the Double Helix by “drawing upon the experimental results of others” and relying on “brilliant intuition, persistence, and luck.” But there is a missing ingredient here. As the story goes, Francis Crick burst through the front door of his Cambridge home spouting barely-legible gibberish to his wife about “two spirals twisting in opposite directions from one another.” Being herself somewhat of an artist, she put vision to paper. And like Walt Disney with Mickey Mouse, the coiling double helix was promptly born. To celebrate, the couple met up with research partner James Watson, and the trio drunk themselves silly at a local pub. It should be noted that Crick was a devoted fan of author Aldous Huxley. He famously threw nude parties throughout the 1950’s and 60’s. But most importantly of all, Crick was a devoted connoisseur of LSD.
The Molecular Path to Shamanism | Watson, Crick and the Double-Helix Delusion
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