Structure of DNA:

1. Sir Lawrence Bragg, Director of the laboratory in which they were employed, did not want Watson and Crick "fishing in other people's ponds" by working on the structure of DNA.. To what extent is science territorial, and to what extent is such territoriality: beneficial or harmful; necessary or unnecessary; ethical or unethical? (Consider Fat Man and Little Boy.)

2. Watson and Crick clearly made use of the ideas and results of other scientists in pursuing their goal, including those of Linus Pauling, Erwin Chargaff and Rosalind Franklin. This is, of course, a commonly accepted practice. What was it, then, that led Ann Sayre to suggest that Franklin had been treated unethically as a result of the use of her findings in the construction of the Watson-Crick DNA model? Is Sayre correct in her assessment?

3. To what extent do the social values that Franklin had to confront (chauvinistic and derogatory attitudes toward women) justify her reticence to engage in discussions about her research progress with her male colleagues?

4. Credit for a scientific discovery is generally accorded to the person(s) who first publishes the finding in an accredited scientific journal. Do you see any ethical problems with this accepted practice? Can you think of any objective criteria for deciding how significant a scientist's contribution to a discovery or a result should have to be in order to merit receiving credit for it and/or being listed as one of the authors of the research paper that describes it?

5. Competition can frequently stimulate rapid progress an scientific research. On the other hand, competition can also impede the sharing of ideas and interim results, which are generally of great value for the healthy development of science. Can you think of any guidelines that might result in an appropriate balance between these opposing values?

1. Some scientists feel territorial about their projects and don’t like anyone else to contribute to their project, or work on the same type of project. Sir Lawrence Bragg did not want Watson and Crick “fishing in other people’s ponds” and getting information from other scientists’ experiments. He knew that other scientists were experimenting to discover the structure of DNA and he did not want them to work on this project. Science being territorial has its advantages and disadvantages. When scientists keep their work to themselves and do not share ideas, they are not influenced by other scientist’s beliefs and have accurate information. When scientists share their ideas with one another, they are able to discuss their discoveries and learn more about the topic they are experimenting with. I think that territoriality is unethical. Scientist should be able to share their ideas with one another so that they can get a broader understanding from other scientists theories and ideas about the topic.

2. Anne Sayre was not wrong to criticize Watson and Crick for their medical findings. Although the article does not give detail of how Watson and Crick obtained the information from Rosalind Franklin's, it does state that the information was not obtained in a sneaky way. After Watson and Crick obtained Franklin's information and used it for their benefit, they did not credit Franklin for her work. We agree that Anne Sayre was right in publishing the novel and her opinions in it. Watson and Crick could have credited Franklin for her work.

3. Because Rosalind Franklin was a very smart female scientist in a time when women were not important in society, she received great amounts of criticism from fellow scientist and parts of society. Franklin was probably not used to sharing her work very often because this case does not seem like the first time others were credited for her work. Although Franklin may have been tormented by other scientist, she should not have been unwilling to share her work. Scientists work together to brainstorm ideas, and Franklin should have been prepared for the difficulties she would endure for choosing a career new to women.

4. A major Ethical problem with credit for a scientific discovery going to the first(s) who publish it is the amount of trust being put to believe that the publisher(s) is the person who has actually done the research and is not plagiarizing from unpublished work. A scientific discovery of any importance should merit receiving even fractional credit for it, or being listed as one of the authors of the research paper that it describes.

5. A scientist should have the right to withhold any information or results. A scientist can relinquish any information that they believe will be necessary to other projects if they wish. They should also be able to keep their research private from any competing groups if they feel the need to.

In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick published an article in the British Science Journal, Nature. They developed a method about how DNA structure was formed which they called the Watson – Crick Model. This model was a double helix structure of DNA to make it easier to explain how DNA worked. This discovery was known as one of the most important scientific discoveries of the century and is still used in high schools and colleges today. In 1968, James Watson published a book called The Double Helix. Anne Sayre published Rosalind Franklin and DNA in 1975. Her book stated how Watson and Crick would not have been able to make the DNA model without Rosalind Franklin’s x-ray diffraction studies. Rosalind Franklin was put in charge of an X-ray diffraction laboratory at Kings College in London. She took an X-ray of DNA which led Watson and Crick to discover the structure of DNA.
Watson and Crick worked together to determine the structure of DNA at Cambridge University. They were able to figure out the correct position and structural pairing of the nucleotide bases based on Rosalind Franklin’s X-rays of DNA. They constructed a model with the knowledge they gained from Franklin’s X-rays and other scientists’ previous experiments. Although they were greatly praised for their work and new discoveries that they had made, they did not credit Franklin for the information that she provided them which made their discoveries possible.