Good Science, Bad Ethics

Or, Does the end Justify the Means

Introduction• 1935 Max Delbrück publishes paper on

gene mutation

• 1944 Research into viruses shows that DNA was responsible for gene mutation

• 1946 Schrödinger popularizes idea of genes as information carriers in his book What is Life?

• The race to discover the geometrical arrangement of the DNA, the “Rosetta Stone” of genetics, was on!

The Players• Linus Pauling discovers the basic structure of

the protein molecule at Cal Tech in 1951. Soon after he starts to model DNA.

• Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin begin studying the structure of DNA using X-ray crystallography by 1951 at King’s college

• In that year James Watson joined Francis Crick as researchers in the Cavendish laboratory under the supervision of Max Perutz and Sir Lawrence Bragg

• Bragg and Perutz had been studying complex proteins for some time, also using X-ray techniques

• Important investigations into the structure of DNA were done by Pauling, Wilkins and Franklin.

• It was Crick and Watson who were able to pull everything together and make a correct model

• 1953 Watson and Crick are the first to publish the correct structure of DNA

• 1958 Franklin dies• 1962 Watson, Crick, and Wilkins

are awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine

• 1967 Watson publishes The Double Helix, his account of the discovery

• Watson’s account reveals he is a jerk and he and Crick violated ethical norms for scientists

Wilkins and Franklin• Wilkins considered Franklin his

lab assistant, this was not the case

• There was bad blood between Wilkins and Franklin

• Franklin takes first X-rays of DNA

• It was Wilkins that provided Franklin’s data to Crick and Watson

• Franklin was not credited in Watson and Crick’s paper

Sir Bragg• Bragg was in charge of the

Cavendish laboratory

• Unwritten standards at the time dictated that scientists not compete with colleagues on projects

• DNA was Wilkins project, Bragg told Watson and Crick to cease work

• Watson and Crick push ahead anyway

The Double Helix

• Harvard University Press refused to publish the book

• Crick, Wilkins, and others objected to Watson’s book claiming it misrepresented the truth

• Watson’s portrayal of women in general and Franklin in particular was demeaning and at times simply untrue

Watson, you twit!• “The thought could not be avoided that the

best home for a feminist was in another person’s lab.”

• “Momentarily I wondered how she would look if she took off her glasses and did something novel with her hair.” (Franklin did not wear glasses)

• Sir Lawrence Bragg was “a relic of the past” who had “lived too long under the shadow of his famous father”.

• In France “fair play obviously did not exist”.

• “A goodly number of scientists are not only narrow minded and dull, but also just stupid.”

– Points to Ponder• Is there a code of ethics for scientists?• What are the consequences for a breach of said code?• Is it a scientist’s responsibility to accurately represent

an event, a situation, or person?• Is moral fuzziness and acceptable price to pay for

scientific innovation?

Evidence Watson/Crick Acted Unethically

• Watson was in violation of his fellowship• Watson and Crick were told by Bragg to

discontinue research on DNA• King’s College group already working on DNA• Unpublished data was obtained without Franklin’s

knowledge and used without her consent• Franklin was misrepresented and unrecognized

Points to Ponder

• Is there a code of ethics for scientists?

• What are the consequences for a breach of said code?

• Is it a scientist’s responsibility to accurately represent an event, a situation, or person?

• Is moral fuzziness and acceptable price to pay for scientific innovation?

The True Turtleneck

References• Watson, James The Double Helix; Edited by Gunther S.

Stent, Norton & Co. 1980. Edition contains original papers, reviews and commentaries from several sources

• James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, and Rosalind Franklin article from website http://www.chemheritage.org/EducationalServices/chemach/ppb/cwwf.html copyright 2000 The Chemical Heritage Society

• Rosalind Franklin from http://www1.um.edu/scitech/franklin.htm