Page 100 - The Secret Museum

Earth, in one pencil sketch, don’t you think?

There are at least 50 million cells in your body, and each one contains nearly 2

metres of DNA. Extracting your own is quite easy. If you’re the kind of geek who
wants to try, follow these steps:

1. Swish salt-water around your cheeks.

2. Spit it into a glass containing water and washing-up liquid.
3. Mix for a minute or so.

4. Pour some ice-cold vodka, slowly, into the glass.

5. In a couple of minutes, you will see some white strands form. These are strands
of DNA. If you were able to look closely at them, you’d see the double helix shape
sketched in Crick’s drawing.

After co-winning the Nobel Prize, Crick became a household name. He was

invited to all sorts of events, but he preferred to concentrate on his work, and keep to
himself. In the archive is a ready-made, multi-purpose reply card from the 1960s,
which reads:

Dr Crick thanks you for your letter but regrets that he is unable to accept
your kind invitation to
–send an autograph
–help you in your project
–provide a photograph or read your manuscript

–cure your disease
–deliver a lecture
–talk on the radio or act as chairman
–appear on TV or become an editor
Delete where appropriate.

Later in life, Crick moved from Cambridge to San Diego, and worked at the Salk

Institute there. He lived in a house called the Golden Helix. There he began focusing
on neurobiology. He wanted to look inside the human brain, to study the networks,
connections and firing patterns of neurons, as he thought they held the key to
understanding mental activity and consciousness.

The Wellcome Library bought Crick’s papers in 2001, while he was still alive.
They consist of his research papers, letters from people who were ill, a lovely letter
from a young boy saying he’d enjoyed meeting Crick and letters from colleagues.
They all give you a sense that Crick, like all scientists, was – of course – a real

person. It makes science seem less removed from normal life.
Crick was keen for his work to become a part of this vast medical library, which

anyone can access free of charge. On the day I visited, the library was packed with
medical students cramming for exams. Perhaps one day, one of those students will