“FRANCIS CRICK, the Nobel Prize-winning father of modern genetics, was under the influence of LSD when he first deduced thedouble-helix structure of DNA nearly 50 years ago.”
While this is ‘I read it on the internet so it must be true’ territory, I can easily believe it.
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Well — firstly the double helix was actually deduced by a 21 year old female lab technician who never got any credit since a: she wasnt a phd yet and b:girls suck … but yes i have also heard that this is true
Whats more interesting though is that the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) which is the technology that enabled all genetic research per se…. was definitely deduced when on LSD. The inventor has made no bones about it..
“Dr Kary Mullis Nobel Prize Winner for Chemistry in 1993 and inventor of PCR, a method for detecting even the smallest amount of DNA in ancient materials. “Would I have invented PCR if I hadn’t taken LSD? I seriously doubt it,” he says. “I could sit on a DNA molecule and watch the polymers go by. I learnt that on psychedelic drugs.”
maybe my no thinking about science on drugs policy has been an error
Tubs: “The inventor has made no bones about it..”
No, but I heard they made a new type of blood cell!
*Ba-Dom Tsss!* [high kick drum, low kick drum, open hi hat]
“was definitely deduced when on LSD.”
“Would I have invented PCR if I hadn’t taken LSD?”
Define “on”.
The story goes that he was driving his car up a coastal road while under the influence and had the realisation “as if sitting on the strand of DNA” — he then returned to work remembering the sensation and deduced the technical aspects in a cogent frame of mind….
I take this from a prof here who heard him lecture on the issue many years ago at a conference …. so still hearsay but not internet hearsay!