Double Helix Turns Fifty: A Golden Jubilee Update
Fifty years ago, on a Saturday morning late in February 1953, James Watson cleared his desk in the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University. His goal: to have a large, flat surface on which to explore how cardboard cutouts representing the building blocks of DNA might fit together to form the basic structure of the molecule of life. (Able to wait no longer for the machine shop to finish fabricating the metal models he and Francis Crick had requested, Watson had made the cardboard cutouts himself the previous afternoon.)
Although years of work by many scientists laid the chemical and intellectual foundations for the discovery, the principle features of the now familiar DNA double helix came together for Watson and Crick over a short period in 1953, culminatng with Watson's cardboard cutouts.
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Double Helix, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is hosting and participating in several projects and events in 2003, including those listed below. For more information, please visit www.dna50.org.
Celebrations
GALA CELEBRATION
February 28, The Waldorf Astoria,
New York, NY (by invitation)
DOUBLE HELIX SUMMER BASH
June 7, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
(limited to CSHL community)
Lectures
DNA AT 50:
FINDING THE DOUBLE HELIX
Public Lecture by James D. Watson,
January 25, February 8, and February 15
Dolan DNA Learning Center, Cold Spring
Harbor. Tickets & Information:
www.dnalc.org or 516-367-5168
FROM CODE TO COMMODITY:
GENETICS & VISUAL ART
Panel Discussion, February 18
New York Academy of Sciences
World Wide Web
THE LEADING STRAND
Website, www.cshl.edu/leading strand,
will feature video of talks from
The Biology of DNA meeting,
available live February 28—March 2
and archived thereafter
THE SAN FRANCISCO EXPLORATORIUM
www.exploratorium.edu will webcast live
from The Biology of DNA meeting
as part of its Origins project
(www.exploratorium.edu/origins)
describing the evolution and impact
of DNA science as well as the role of
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the
growth of genetics and the birth
of molecular biology.
DOUBLE HELIX 50TH ANNIVERSARY
Official website, www.dna50.org
DNA INTERACTIVE WEBSITE
Dolan DNA Learning Center,
www.dnalc.org
Scientific Meetings
THE BIOLOGY OF DNA
February 26—March 2
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
68TH SYMPOSIUM:
THE GENOME OF HOMO SAPIENS
May 28—June2
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Television
DNA: THE SECRET OF LIFE
Public Broadcasting System (WNET) &
Channel 4 Television (United Kingdom)
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Books
DNA: THE SECRET OF LIFE
by James D. Watson with Andrew Berry,
publication date April 7
(Alfred A. Knopf)
HONEST JIM REVEALED:
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE
WRITINGS OF JAMES D. WATSON
by Errol Friendberg, available summer
2003 (CSHL Press)
THE MOLECULAR GAZE:
ART IN THE GENETIC AGE
by Suzanne Anker and Dorothy Nelkin,
available fall 2003 (CSHL Press)
Art, Exhibitions & Film
THE GENES WE SHARE
Permanent exhibit, now open, Dolan DNA
Learning Center, Cold Spring Harbor
JAMES D. WATSON:
HIS LIFE THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHS
February—August, Cold Spring
Harbor Laboratory
FROM CODE TO COMMODITY:
GENETICS & VISUAL ART
Exhibit, February 6—April 11
New York Academy of Sciences
SEEKING THE SECRET OF LIFE:
DNA IN NEW YORK
February—July
New York Public Library
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
(GENOMICALLY YOURS)
February 22—March 22
Universal Concepts Limited, NY
GENOMIC ISSUES: ART & SCIENCE
February 25—April5
CUNY Graduate Center
HOW HUMAN:
LIFE IN THE POST-GENOME ERA
February 28—June 8,
International Center for Photography, NY
BRAVE NEW WORLD
March 1—31, Organization of
Independant Artists, NY
WRITING LIFE: JAMES D. WATSON
THROUGH HIS WRITINGS
Movember 2003—May 2004,
New York Public Library
GENETIC EXPRESSIONS
Summer 2003 Celebration:
Genetic Expressions 1: Film
DNA-related themes
Cinema Arts Centre,
Huntington, NY
Genetic Expressions 2: Art
June 28—September 7
Heckscher Museum of Art,
Huntington, NY
Genetic Expressions 3: Harbor
Lecture Series
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
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