Thye Birth of Molecular Biology

The Birth of Molecular Biology


S. Michael Halloran writer of “ The Birth of Molecular Biology” summarizes Thomas Kuhn’s views of scientific revolution and ethos. Ethos is defined as the fundamental values or disciplines of a particular group or culture. Edwin Black describes it further “ people do not necessarily share ideas; they share rather stylistic proclivities and the qualities of mental life of which those proclivities are tokens.” Watson and Crick’s paper published in 1953 established an ethos, which started what Khun would call the scientific revolution.
The scientific community was very competitive at the time Watson and Crick published their report discussing the helical structure of deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA). Although Watson and Crick are the most recognized for their discoveries about DNA, they were not the only scientists working on the project at the time. Nor were they the only scienti...