Word: dna
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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DIED. FRANCIS CRICK, 88, Nobel-prizewinning British scientist who, with American James Watson, discovered the spiral double-helix structure of DNA in 1953; in San Diego. (See item below...
...death of FRANCIS CRICK deprives the world of a remarkable scientist and conversationalist whose forceful voice and overpowering laugh made him the focal point of any room that he chose to occupy. From the morning of Feb. 28, 1953, when he and I discovered the double-helical structure of DNA?and showed that the secret of life was a large molecule?he held court over the new field of research that this discovery unleashed. Exuding an Edwardian elegance of logic as well as dress, he instantly brought to mind the good-natured arrogance of Henry Higgins in George Bernard Shaw...
...them ugly looks and were generally surly and mean," says the computer-systems administrator from Denver. "Because of the nastiness of the fight, I never got back to the facts of the argument." Then two Christmases ago, he decided to sit down and research the facts by reading the DNA study by Dr. Eugene Foster in the scientific journal Nature as well as a report issued in 2000 by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which runs the Monticello estate. Works' conclusion: "When you put it all together, the simplest and most likely answer was that Thomas Jefferson fathered Hemings' children...
Chief among Banning's doubts is the fact that the DNA test was not a true paternity test, which would have required exhuming Jefferson's remains as well as those of Hemings' children to get DNA samples. The test that was done proves only that a Jefferson male, not necessarily Thomas, was the father, and there were other adult males in Jefferson's family who lived nearby. What's more, there are several documented denials of the relationship, by Jefferson's former overseer at Monticello and Jefferson's daughter, granddaughter and grandson. Jefferson himself never acknowledged the sexual relationship...
...until the DNA study was released in Nature in 1998 that the tide began to turn among historians. Although the article was misleadingly titled--the headline read JEFFERSON FATHERED SLAVE'S LAST CHILD, when in fact the study concluded solely that a Jefferson male had fathered that child--it provided the missing link that many historians needed. And there was other evidence: records indicate that Jefferson was at Monticello at the time of the conception of all of Hemings' children; Israel Jefferson, another slave at Monticello, corroborated Madison Hemings' story that he was the son of Jefferson and Hemings...