An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15959 entries, 13943 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 1, 2024

WATSON, James Dewey

7 entries
  • 256.3

Molecular structure of nucleic acids. A structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid.

Nature, 171, 737-38, 1953.

Watson and Crick shared the Nobel Prize with M. H. F. Wilkins (No. 256.4) for the discovery of the molecular structure of DNA. Later they proposed how DNA might explain the chemical mechanism by which cells passed on their character accurately. See No. 7138.

The journal Nature later published an "early draft" of the Watson & Crick paper with differing text and extensive explanatory annotations. It is available from exploratorium.edu at this link.



Subjects: BIOLOGY, BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY › Nucleic Acids
  • 7138

Genetical implications of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid.

Nature, 1953, 171, 964-7, 1953.

In this paper published on May 30, 1953 Watson and Crick proposed the method of replication of DNA. This discovery has been called as significant, or possibly even more significant, than their discovery of the double-helical structure of DNA published in April 1953. 



Subjects: BIOLOGY, BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY › Nucleic Acids, GENETICS / HEREDITY
  • 9729

Molecular biology of the gene.

New York: W. A. Benjamin, 1965.

Watson's first book on molecular biology, and the first textbook on what was then a new academic subject. Seventh revised edition, with five co-authors, 2013.



Subjects: BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
  • 9191

Phage and the origins of molecular biology. Edited by John Cairns, G. Stent, and J. D. Watson.

Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1966.

Expanded edition, 1992. 40th anniversary edition, 2007.



Subjects: BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY › History of Molecular Biology
  • 7139

The double helix. A personal account of the discovery of the structure of DNA.

New York: Atheneum, 1968.

Vivid first hand account of the discovery, renowned for its candor. See also the Norton Critical Edition of The double helix with supporting material, edited by Gunther Stent (1980), and The annotated and illustrated Double Helix, edited by Alexander Gann & Jan Witkowski (2012).



Subjects: BIOGRAPHY (Reference Works) › Autobiography, BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY › History of Molecular Biology
  • 12027

The double helix.

Atlantic Monthly, 221, 77-99, 91-117, 1968.

Portions of Watson's famous memoir appeared in the January and February issues of the Atlantic Monthly prior to their publication in book form in the Spring of 1968.

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference.)



Subjects: BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY › History of Molecular Biology
  • 9728

The DNA story: A documentary history of gene cloning.

San Francisco, CA: W. H. Freeman & Co, 1981.


Subjects: BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY › History of Molecular Biology, Biotechnology › History of Biotechnology