30 July, 2008

Dr. Watson, I Presume?

This week at Cold Spring Harbor is a week for reflection on what we have done, practice of the techniques and experiments we have learned, and a time to plan how we will use our new knowledge in the classroom.

We had a welcome break from our work yesterday when legendary scientist James Watson visited and spoke with us. Dr. James D. Watson is one half of the famous pair of Watson and Crick, the two men who first described the structure of DNA in 1953. Since 1968, he has been the director of the lab here at Cold Spring Harbor. Yesterday, he stopped by for 45 minutes and spoke about a variety of topics including the role of science in society, the future of DNA science in careers, and his tendency to not be very religious.


It was a short talk, but all of the teachers and I at this workshop came away with a sense of awe at meeting someone we have read about in textbooks almost all our lives. There have been many people who have contributed to the advancement of human understanding and science, but not many who have made a bigger or more important discovery than Dr. Watson.


1 comment:

sid93 said...

oh my god!! Mr. Jordan that's a privilege!
i hope ill get that lucky someday ...
i cant even dream of meeting Dr.Watson in person