Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code

Part of the acclaimed Eminent Lives series, Francis Crick is the first biography of the eminent scientist, co-discoverer of the double helix structure of DNA. Written by Matt Ridley, the award-winning author of the national bestseller Genome, Francis Crick traces his life from middle class mediocrity in the English Midlands through a lackluster education and six years designing magnetic mines for the Royal Navy to his leap into biology at the age of 31 and his enormous success, providing “a considerably more complete and colorful portrait of Crick than has existed before.” (New York Times)

This landmark work in the history of science reveals the man behind the discovery:

• The Race for the Double Helix: Explore the intense partnership with James Watson and the competitive drive that led them to one of the 20th century’s greatest scientific breakthroughs.
• From Codebreaker to Code Cracker: Discover Crick’s surprising wartime years designing magnetic mines for the Royal Navy and how his scientific mind later turned to cracking the very code of life itself.
• Science and Controversy: Delve into the complex collaborations, including the pivotal and often-debated role of Rosalind Franklin’s data in the DNA discovery.
• Life After the Nobel: Follow Crick’s journey beyond DNA, from defining the “Central Dogma” of biology to his final decades tackling his second great mystery: the neurological basis of human consciousness.

Francis Crick—the quiet genius who led a revolution in biology by discovering, quite literally, the secret of life—will be bracketed with Galileo, Darwin, and Einstein as one of the greatest scientists of all time. In his fascinating biography of the scientific pioneer who uncovered the genetic code—the digital cipher at the heart of heredity that distinguishes living from non-living things—acclaimed bestselling science writer Matt Ridley traces Crick's life from middle-class mediocrity in the English Midlands through a lackluster education and six years designing magnetic mines for the Royal Navy to his leap into biology at the age of thirty-one and its astonishing consequences. In the process, Ridley sheds a brilliant light on the man who forever changed our world and how we understand it.

Praise for Eminent Lives Series: FRANCIS CRICK and CHARLES DARWIN - Abilene Reporter-News

“The reader gets a strong sense of how these men lived, what they achieved and how they achieved it.” - San Francisco Chronicle

“Thoughtful. . .aptly conjures a forgotten scientific landscape. . .” - New York Times Book Review

“A fitting tribute to a…canonical figure in modern science” - Publishers Weekly

“A nimble biography.” - Los Angeles Times Book Review

“A considerably more complete and colorful portrait of Crick than has existed before.” - Nicholas Wade, New York Times

“Ridley has captured the wonder of an unparalleled scientific mind at work and at play.” - Nicholas Wade, New York Times

“Lucid and riveting . . . Completely captivating, a lively and deeply intriguing account of one of biology’s most imaginative scientists.” - Kay Redfield Jamison

“Ridley captures Crick’s audacity, brilliance and, not least, eloquence…An excellent first biography” - Brenda Maddox, Sunday Times (London)

“Enjoyable…Ridley does an excellent job of escorting readers on [an] intellectual roller coaster ride.” - BioScience

“This is a wonderful book--deeply substantive, lucid, trenchant, and witty. It tells the biggest story in modern biology.” - David Quammen

“Ridley is a skilled science writer and able to lighten the heaviest discussions with clever analogies.” - New York Times Book Review

“Matt Ridley’s book reads beautifully, the science flowing along with the life, to form a unity.” - Aaron Klug

“Matt Ridley’s Francis Crick perceptively and warmly recounts the extraordinary life of the 20th century’s most important biologist.” - James D. Watson