Volume 31, Number 5 · March 29, 1984
Triumph of a Naturalist
By Stephen Jay Gould
A Feeling for the Organism: The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock
by Evelyn Fox Keller
W.H. Freeman, 235 pp., $14.95; $8.95 (paper)
It would be churlish indeed to argue that Watson and Crick's elucidation of the double helical structure of DNA in 1953 was anything less than one of the great scientific achievements of modern history. Yet, in a curious way, this discovery differed from other revolutionary events in science by its doubly conservative nature. First, it seemed to confirm the canonical view of genetical systems as rows of beads (genes) on strings (chromosomes), and its implication that evolution proceeds slowly and gradually, based ultimately on the generation of new genetic variation (mutation) by pinpoint changes within the beads (substitution of one nucleic acid base for another yielding a different amino acid in the translated protein).
Review, 3630 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |