Dan Samorodnitsky
@dsamorod.bsky.social
i'm an editor and science writer. i cover biology, genetics, the environment, stuff like that. i live in Minneapolis. my pronouns are he/him. i am the news editor at biospace and am a cofounder at @sequencermag.bsky.social
dansamorodnitsky.com
dansamorodnitsky.com
where does swiping fall in all of this
November 11, 2025 at 5:19 PM
where does swiping fall in all of this
Reader, he was Avid
November 11, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Reader, he was Avid
I actually looked at the rest of my list and tbh I haven't heard of most of them so I have no idea what it's trying to say about me. who is this person described in this list of books
November 11, 2025 at 4:04 AM
I actually looked at the rest of my list and tbh I haven't heard of most of them so I have no idea what it's trying to say about me. who is this person described in this list of books
I understand that he is culturally important or whatever but his music is bad
November 10, 2025 at 11:34 PM
I understand that he is culturally important or whatever but his music is bad
but also I'm a huge freak who'd rather listen to 50 mtn goats songs before I listened to a single bob dylan song
November 10, 2025 at 11:31 PM
but also I'm a huge freak who'd rather listen to 50 mtn goats songs before I listened to a single bob dylan song
tallahassee is his best one. though agreed that something was lost with the professional studio recordings
November 10, 2025 at 11:30 PM
tallahassee is his best one. though agreed that something was lost with the professional studio recordings
bleed out goes hard
November 10, 2025 at 11:26 PM
bleed out goes hard
I did the book match and its top recommendation was the Quiet American by Graham Greene (humiliating, already read it), and a Yukio Mishima novel, which felt like it was making fun of me (I already put it on hold at the library)
November 8, 2025 at 3:20 AM
I did the book match and its top recommendation was the Quiet American by Graham Greene (humiliating, already read it), and a Yukio Mishima novel, which felt like it was making fun of me (I already put it on hold at the library)
![A DM that says "thank you for compiling these [stories of how shitty Jim Watson was]. A whole oral tradition around how shitty this one man is"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:xuam53vljpz4h3j4twoy6vac/bafkreihu3rllgztbvmvmletcseb5o2sbbrplune7g4lafj4enbxw3lf62i@jpeg)
Francis Crick was a eugenicist but also
November 8, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Francis Crick was a eugenicist but also
The most complete book is Eighth Day of Creation by Horace Freeland Judson. It's really long and dry but it has *everything*. Might be out of print but can be bought on eBay. A more approachable book is Life's Greatest Secret by @matthewcobb.bsky.social. Half as long and twice as readable.
November 8, 2025 at 12:52 AM
The most complete book is Eighth Day of Creation by Horace Freeland Judson. It's really long and dry but it has *everything*. Might be out of print but can be bought on eBay. A more approachable book is Life's Greatest Secret by @matthewcobb.bsky.social. Half as long and twice as readable.
My PhD is in protein-DNA biochemistry so our academic worlds overlapped, I've read a lot of books and literature about the history of molecular biology, and people just tell me stories as a journalist.
November 7, 2025 at 11:57 PM
My PhD is in protein-DNA biochemistry so our academic worlds overlapped, I've read a lot of books and literature about the history of molecular biology, and people just tell me stories as a journalist.
It famously took McClintock something like 40 years after her work to receive the Nobel.
November 7, 2025 at 9:23 PM
It famously took McClintock something like 40 years after her work to receive the Nobel.
This is all to say that yes Watson was a dyed in the wool bigot, but we shouldn't forget that was he was also a huckster.
November 7, 2025 at 9:00 PM
This is all to say that yes Watson was a dyed in the wool bigot, but we shouldn't forget that was he was also a huckster.
There's an interesting bit in The Eighth Day of Creation, the maniacally detailed account of 20th century molecular biology, about Watson imagining and comparing himself to Linus Pauling, as if he was personally competing with him to discover the double helix.
November 7, 2025 at 8:55 PM
There's an interesting bit in The Eighth Day of Creation, the maniacally detailed account of 20th century molecular biology, about Watson imagining and comparing himself to Linus Pauling, as if he was personally competing with him to discover the double helix.
Watson was really a trailblazer in scientists selling the idea of themselves, a relentless self promoter. He wrote The Double Helix, the book length account of the discovery that famously smears Franklin. He appeared in a 1954 Vogue photo essay on "Young Americana Talent."
November 7, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Watson was really a trailblazer in scientists selling the idea of themselves, a relentless self promoter. He wrote The Double Helix, the book length account of the discovery that famously smears Franklin. He appeared in a 1954 Vogue photo essay on "Young Americana Talent."
Crick was a physicist who actually really understood the concepts of how molecules fit together in space, and Franklin (and Raymond Gosling) did the actual experimental work.
November 7, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Crick was a physicist who actually really understood the concepts of how molecules fit together in space, and Franklin (and Raymond Gosling) did the actual experimental work.
Luria gave access to the Phage Group, a loose collection of scientists who themselves made almost every single major molecular biology discovery of the 20th century. Watson got to go to Copenhagen and then Cambridge (even though his scholarship was specifically for Copenhagen).
November 7, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Luria gave access to the Phage Group, a loose collection of scientists who themselves made almost every single major molecular biology discovery of the 20th century. Watson got to go to Copenhagen and then Cambridge (even though his scholarship was specifically for Copenhagen).
As far as I know he did not literally steal them but heard Franklin lecture about her work and was then shown the crystallography by Maurice Wilkins without Franklin's permission.
November 7, 2025 at 8:35 PM
As far as I know he did not literally steal them but heard Franklin lecture about her work and was then shown the crystallography by Maurice Wilkins without Franklin's permission.