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• Watson and Crick
• Rosalind Franklin
• Gregor Mendel
• Barbara McClintock
• Linus Pauling

• 1962 Nobel Prize home page

• Francis Crick
  • Crick's Nobel Bio
  • PBS Science Odyssey: People and Discovery Focus on Francis Crick
  • Biographical Sketch of Dr. Crick
• James Watson
  • Watson's Nobel Bio
  • Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
  • A Visit With Dr. Watson --Access Excellence Interview
  • Biographical Sketch of Dr. Watson
• Books about Watson and Crick:
  • DNA Pioneer: James Watson and the Double Helix by Joyce Baldwin
  • The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA by James D. Watson
  • Francis Crick and James Watson: And the Building Blocks of Life (Oxford Portraits in Science) by Edward Edelson
  • James Watson and Francis Crick: Discovery of the Double Helix and Beyond (Makers of Modern Science) by David E. Newton

• Rosalind Franklin-Ballistic Fingerprinting --Talk of the Nation audio file, Oct. 25, 2002
• Biosketch of Rosalind Franklin --Access Excellence
• Biographical Sketch of Dr. Franklin
• PBS Science Odyssey: People and Discovery Focus on Rosalind Franklin
• Who was Rosalind Franklin?--An article from Suite101.com
  • Rosalind Franklin - Photographer of DNA
• Anne Sayre Collection of Rosalind Franklin Materials from the American Society of Microbiology
• Book: Rosalind Franklin and DNA by Anne Sayre, 1978, W. W. Norton.

• Biography of Gregor Mendel --Access Excellence
• MendelWeb
• Gregor Mendel Library of Congress Citations

Barbara McClintock

Nearly half of the human genome is composed of transposable elements or jumping DNA. First recognized in the 1940s by Dr. Barbara McClintock in studies of peculiar inheritance patterns found in the colors of Indian corn, jumping DNA refers to the idea that some stretches of DNA are unstable and "transposable," i.e., they can move around—on and between chromosomes.

This theory was confirmed in the 1980s when scientists observed jumping DNA in other genomes. Now scientists believe transposons may be linked to some genetic disorders such as hemophilia, leukemia, and breast cancer. They also believe that transposons may have played critical roles in human evolution.

McClintock received a Nobel prize in 1983 for her discovery—making her one of only two women ever to receive an unshared Nobel prize in science. The other was Marie Curie.

To learn more about McClintock and her research, see

• Barbara McClintock [National Academy of Sciences bio]
• Barbara McClintock [Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory bio]

Linus Pauling

• Linus Pauling and the Race for DNA: A Documentary History

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