Microbiology and Immunology

WORLD OF MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY Welch, William Henry

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duced by Rosalind Franklin at King’s College, London. Both

were certain that the answer lay in model-building, and Watson

was particularly impressed by Nobel laureate Linus Pauling’s

use of model-building in determining the alpha-helix structure

of protein. Using data published by Austrian-born American

biochemist Erwin Chargaff on the symmetry between the four

constituent nucleotides (or bases) of DNA molecules, they con-

cluded that the building blocks had to be arranged in pairs.

After a great deal of experimentation with their models, they

found that the double helix structure corresponded to the

empirical data produced by Wilkins, Franklin, and their col-

leagues. Watson and Crick published their theoretical paper in

the journal Naturein 1953 (with Watson’s name appearing first

due to a coin toss), and their conclusions were supported by the

experimental evidence simultaneously published by Wilkins,

Franklin, and Raymond Goss. Franklin died in 1958. Wilkins

shared the Nobel Prize with Watson and Crick in 1962.

After the completion of his research fellowship at

Cambridge, Watson spent the summer of 1953 at Cold Spring

Harbor, New York, where Delbrück had gathered an active

group of investigators working in the new area of molecular

biology. Watson then became a research fellow in biology at

the California Institute of Technology, working with Delbrück

and his colleagues on problems in phage genetics. In 1955, he

joined the biology department at Harvard and remained on the

faculty until 1976. While at Harvard, Watson wrote The

Molecular Biology of the Gene (1965), the first widely used

university textbook on molecular biology. This text has gone

through seven editions, and now exists in two large volumes

as a comprehensive treatise of the field. In 1968, Watson

became director of Cold Spring Harbor, carrying out his duties

there while maintaining his position at Harvard. He gave up

his faculty appointment at the university in 1976, however,

and assumed full-time leadership of Cold Spring Harbor. With

John Tooze and David Kurtz, Watson wrote The Molecular

Biology of the Cell,originally published in 1983.

In 1989, Watson was appointed the director of the

Human Genome Project of the National Institutes of Health,

but after less than two years he resigned in protest over policy

differences in the operation of this massive project. He con-

tinues to speak out on various issues concerning scientific

research and is a strong presence concerning federal policies

in supporting research. In addition to sharing the Nobel Prize,

Watson has received numerous honorary degrees from institu-

tions and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in

1977 by President Jimmy Carter. In 1968, Watson married

Elizabeth Lewis. They have two children.

In his book, The Double Helix, Watson confirms that

never avoided controversy. His candor about his colleagues

and his combativeness in public forums have been noted by

critics. On the other hand, his scientific brilliance is attested to

by Crick, Delbrück, Luria, and others. The importance of his

role in the DNA discovery has been well supported by Gunther

Stent—a member of the Delbrück phage group—in an essay

that discounts many of Watson’s critics through well-reasoned

arguments.

Most of Watson’s professional life has been spent as a

professor, research administrator, and public policy

spokesman for research. More than any other location in

Watson’s professional life, Cold Spring Harbor (where he is

still director) has been the most congenial in developing his

abilities as a scientific catalyst for others. Watson’s work there

has primarily been to facilitate and encourage the research of

other scientists.

See alsoCell cycle (eukaryotic), genetic regulation of; Cell

cycle (prokaryotic), genetic regulation of; DNA (Deoxyribo-

nucleic acid); DNA chips and micro arrays; DNA hybridiza-

tion; Genetic code; Genetic identification of microorganisms;

Genetic mapping; Genetic regulation of eukaryotic cells;

Genetic regulation of prokaryotic cells; Genotype and pheno-

type; Molecular biology and molecular genetics

WWelch, William HenryELCH, WILLIAMHENRY(1850-1934)

American pathologist

William Henry Welch was a senior pathologist at Johns

Hopkins University and its hospital. He researched numerous

diseases, including pneumoniaand diphtheria, but is most

renowned for his discovery of the Bacillus welchii,a bac-

terium that causes gangrene. Throughout his career, Welch

James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of the DNA double helix.

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