My Dear Michael, we’ve discovered DNA

Posted by on Apr 12, 2013 in Genes that bind | 0 comments

My Dear Michael, we’ve discovered DNA

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that on April 10, 2013, the letter Crick wrote to his son describing the discovery sold at Christie’s for $6 million. It was a record for a letter, eclipsing a record price for an Abraham Lincoln letter that went for $3.4 million in 2008.

In a March 19, 1953, handwritten letter to his then-12-year-old son, Francis Crick describes his discovery of the structure of DNA as something “beautiful.” The note tells his son how he and James Watson found the copying mechanism “by which life comes from life.” It includes a simple sketch of DNA’s double helix structure, which Crick concedes he can’t draw very well.

The seven-page letter, written to his son in boarding school, concludes: “Read this carefully so that you will understand it. When you come home we will show you the model. Lots of love, Daddy.”

Click here to see an interactive version of the letter published online by The New York Times.