A rare scientific document, the letter written by Francis Crick to his 12-year-old son, Michael, a few days after he discovered with Jim Watson the double helix of DNA, is being auctioned on April 10 by Christie’s, with a price that is estimated to range from one to two million dollars.
«Dear Michael, Jim Watson and I have probably made the greatest discovery». Thus begins the letter written on March 19, 1953, by Francis Krik to his son, 19 days after the discovery of the double helix of DNA.
The importance of the letter from the «father» of DNA is great. Not only because it contains the first written description of DNA as code but also because it explains in simple terms the mechanism of creating identical copies of it.
Francis Crick advises his son to “read carefully the letter», in which he spells out syllabically the entire chemical name of DNA. The value of the letter is such that it can be compared to that which Albert Einstein sent to the American President Franklin Roosevelt, warning him about the danger that nuclear weapons are birthing.
Francis Wolgren, head of the international department of the Christie’s house for books and manuscripts, said, according to the «New York Times», that Einstein’s letter had been valued at $800,000 to $1.2 million, and was ultimately sold for two million dollars, to an unknown American buyer.
Krik's son, Michael, is today 72 years old and lives in Seattle. He remembers that when he had received his father's letter, he locked himself in a classroom at his school and read it many times, trying to memorize the name of DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid.
Francis Krik's letter was written just as the problem of the paternity of the discovery of DNA had been resolved, which had arisen with a group of other scientists who were working at King's College in London.
Rosalind Franklin had at the same time gathered very important information about DNA, using X-rays.
