Correspondence between Pontecorvo and Professor Charles A Thomas Junior discussing Linus Carl Pauling's ideas on proposed models of DNA

Date:
Aug 1963-Jun 1964
Reference:
UGC 198/3/3/23
Part of:
Papers of Guido Pellegrino Arrigo Pontecorvo, geneticist, Professor of Genetics, University of Glasgow, Scotland
  • Archives and manuscripts
  • Online

Collection contents

About this work

Description

The bundle includes earlier correspondence between Pontecorvo and Linus Carl Pauling (who got in touch with Pontecorvo after reading his Leeuwenhoek Lecture) and reprints of his papers and lectures on self duplication of genes, and his theories on the formation of antibodies, including a copy of his 1948 Sir Jesse Boot Foundation Lecture delivered on 28 May 1948. In this lecture he gave a number of proposed models for DNA, very similar to the B form of Watson and Crick.

Thomas was keen to find references to Pauling's ideas for a paper he was working on which led to Pontecorvo thinking about whether Pauling could be "entitled to priority for what everybody calls the Watson-Crick independent idea that the template is itself a duplex structure which replicates by double complement formation". Pontecorvo thought that Pauling initially had this idea but "forgot about it or thought differently after having published it". The copy of his letter to Thomas outlines his thoughts on the matter.

Publication/Creation

Aug 1963-Jun 1964

Physical description

6 letters, 6 reprints and abstracts (29 pages)

Biographical note

Pauling was one of the most influential chemists in history and ranks among the most important scientists of the 20th century. He was among the first scientists to work in the fields of quantum chemistry and molecular biology. He won a Nobel Prize in 1954 for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances. In 1962 he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his commitment to a campaign against nuclear weapons testing. He is one of only four individuals to have won more than one Nobel Prize and the only person to win two unshared Nobel Prizes.

Related material

UGC 198/8/3/1, reprint and correspondence of Pontecorvo's Leeuwenhoek Lecture delivered on 6 December 1962.

Terms of use

Open and available at Glasgow University Archive Services.

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Location of duplicates

A digitised copy is held by the Wellcome Library as part of Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics.

Where to find it

Location of original

The original material is held at Glasgow University Archive Services. This catalogue is held by the Wellcome Library as part of Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics.

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