History of Molecular Biology Collection

The History of Molecular Biology Collection was assembled by Jeremy Norman and his associate Al Seckel from early 1999 to late 2002 for the purpose of documenting the formative period of molecular biology. During this time the collection was known as the Norman Collection on the History of Molecular Biology. Norman and Seckel acquired personal papers of Donald Caspar, Max Delbrück, Maurice Fox, Bruce Fraser, Sven Furberg, Raymond Gosling, Rollin Hotchkiss, Horace Judson, Aaron Klug, Vittorio Luzzati, Max Perutz, Maurice Wilkins, and Herbert Wilson, among others. Within these personal collections, materials created by other prominent scientists and Nobel laureates can be found, including five boxes of Rosalind Franklin's personal papers, acquired with the Aaron Klug papers. Other personal papers within these acquisitions include materials created by Francis Crick and James Watson, Sydney Brenner, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, John Kendrew, Barbara McClintock, Linus and Peter Pauling, Robert Corey, and Leo Szilard. Norman and Seckel also acquired select items which were not part an any individual's personal papers. Provenance of some individual items is difficult to track. In many instances offprints and reprints will include the original owner's stamp or signature. Many signatures are contemporary to the item, but on occasion signatures were added by the creators in the early 2000s. Together these materials form the History of Molecular Biology Collection.

Brief biographical notes on primary individuals in the collection are as follows:

Sydney Brenner was born in Germiston, South Africa on January 13, 1927 to Lena (Blacher) and Morris Brenner, both Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Brenner, a biologist/geneticist made significant contributions to work on the genetic code and other areas of molecular biology. In 2002 he won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with H. Robert Horvitz and John Sulston for their discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death. He died on April 5, 2019.

Francis H. C. Crick was born in Weston Favell, Northampton, England on June 8, 1916 to Annie Elizabeth Wilkins and Harry Crick. Crick, a neuroscientist and molecular biologist, is widely known for being a co-discoverer of the structure of DNA. He, along with James D. Watson and Maurice Wilkins, was awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material. Crick died on July 28, 2004.

Max Ludwig Hanning Delbrück was born in Berlin, Germany on September 4, 1906 to Liana Tiersch Delbrück and Hans Delbrück. Delbrück, a German-American biophysicist, made significant contributions to the study of bacteriophages. In 1969 he won a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine along with Alfred D. Hershey and Salvador E. Luria for their discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and genetic structure of viruses. He died on March 9, 1981.

Maurice Stanford Fox was born in New York City on October 11, 1924 to Russian Jewish immigrants. Fox, a geneticist and molecular biologist, made significant contributions in understanding mechanisms of genetic modification. He became a professor emeritus of Biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology spent much of his career there; prior to MIT he worked with and became a close collaborator of Leo Szilard, and later worked with Rollin Hotchkiss at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. He died on January 26, 2020.

Rosalind Elsie Franklin was born in London, England on July 25, 1920 to Muriel and Ellis Franklin. Franklin, a biophysicist and X-ray crystallographer, made significant contributions in the understanding of the molecular structure of DNA, RNA, coal, and viruses, specifically the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). While working at King's College in London, Franklin was the first to discover and photograph the B form of DNA, which was a crucial factor in the discovery of DNA's double helical structure. Franklin died on April 16, 1958 at 37 years of age.

Raymond Gosling was born in 1926. Gosling, a British biophysicist, made significant contributions to the field of molecular biology. In 1949 he was a research student at King's College London, first working with Maurice Wilkins on X-ray diffraction, then later with Rosalind Franklin from 1951-1953. Together he and Franklin produced the first X-ray diffraction pattern of the B form of DNA. After earning his thesis in 1954 he lectured at a number of universities before returning to the UK in 1967, where he retired in 1984 as a professor emeritus in Physics Applied to Medicine. He died on May 18, 2015.

Sven Furberg was born in Sande, Norway on April 16, 1920 and died March 15, 1983 in Oslo. Furberg, a chemist, biologist, and crystallographer, created one of the first DNA models. His research while at Birkbeck College, University of London, in 1949 led to the correct determination of the structure of a nucleotide, a key element in solving the structure of DNA. His subsequent publication was one of the few that Watson and Crick cited in their April 25, 1953 publication on the discovery of the double helical structure of DNA. He died on March 15, 1983.

Rollin Douglas Hotchkiss was born in South Britain, Connecticut in 1911. Hotchkiss, a biochemist and geneticist, made significant contributions to the field of molecular genetics. His research while at Rockefeller Institute, alongside Oswald Avery and others, helped to establish that DNA, not protein, is the biochemical basis of heredity. He worked at Rockefeller from 1935 until his retirement as a professor emeritus in 1982. He left active research in 1986 and passed away at the age of 93 on December 12, 2004.

Aaron Klug was born in Zelvas, Lithuania to parents Bella Silin and Lazar Klug on August 11, 1926 and raised in Durban, South Africa. Klug, a chemist and biophysicist, received his doctorate at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1953. Later that year he took a position at Birkbeck College, University of London, working with Rosalind Franklin on virus research. He went on to work at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology where he perfected crystallographic electron microscopy. He was director of the lab from 1986 to 1996. In 1982 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his development of crystallographic electron microscopy and his structural elucidation of biologically important nucleic acid-protein complexes. He died on November 20, 2018.

Barbara McClintock was born in Hartford, Connecticut on June 16, 1902 to Sara Handy McClintock and Thomas Henry McClintock. McClintock was one of the world's most distinguished cytogeneticists. In 1983 McClintock won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discovery of mobile genetic elements. She died on September 2, 1992.

Max Ferdinand Perutz was born in Vienna, Austria on May 19, 1914 to Adele Goldschmidt and Hugo Perutz. Perutz, a molecular biologist, made significant discoveries in hemoglobin and other globular proteins. He obtained his PhD under William Lawrence Bragg at Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory. He went on to co-found and direct the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology from 1962-1979. In 1962, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with John Kendrew for their studies of the structures of globular proteins. Max Perutz died on February 6, 2002.

Leo Szilard was born in Budapest, Hungary (then Austria-Hungary) on February 11, 1898 to Thekla Vidor and Louis Spitz. Szilard, a nuclear physicist and biologist, made significant discoveries about nuclear chain reactions and patented the idea of a nuclear reaction with Enrico Fermi. In the late 1930s he moved to the United States and worked on the Manhattan Project. In the late 1940s he worked closely with Aaron Novick on chemostat. He was also a very active advocate of global arms control. He died in La Jolla, CA on May 30, 1964 at 66 years of age.

James Dewey Watson was born in Chicago, Illinois on April 6, 1928 to Jean Mitchell and James D. Watson. Watson, a molecular biologist and geneticist, obtained his B.S. and PhD in zoology from Indiana University and is widely known for being a co-discoverer of the structure of DNA. He, along with Francis H.C. Crick and Maurice Wilkins, were jointly awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material. He died in November, 2025.