First published 2022
In the early 1950s, the greatest scientific minds cannot explain how genes pass life's blueprint from parent to child. James Watson arrives at Cambridge University driven by ambition and the promise of discovery. He partners with Francis Crick, equally determined to crack the mystery of DNA's structure. On February 28, 1953, they burst into a Cambridge pub to announce their breakthrough: the double helix. But their triumph comes at a cost. Rosalind Franklin, the chemist whose work proves crucial to their discovery, finds herself pushed aside and forgotten. Watson later writes a bestselling memoir that twists the truth and paints Franklin as the villain of their story. The academic world of mid-century science rewards progress but punishes those who don't fit its narrow mold. Women and minorities face barriers that brilliance alone cannot overcome. As Watson and Crick bask in Nobel Prize glory, the real story of DNA's discovery remains buried beneath half-truths and prejudice.
Genres: 20th-century, biography-memoir, academia, academic
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: forgotten-history, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Cambridge University
Period: 1950s
632 pages · Paperback · LA ESFERA DE LOS LIBROS, S.L.
Content warnings: sexism