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RE: Armchair Science — The Discovery of Proteins' Secondary Structure

in #biology7 years ago

The famed Watson and Crick of DNA structure asked Linus Pauling many questions about his structure work in proteins, but never returned his call to them. Apparently, there is a loophole in scientific information exchange custom, in which if queries only flow one way, the receipient does not need to provide credit for the answers received. Pauling, himself, may have been thinking about DNA at the time, and the famous duo did not want to share credit.

Pauling's elucidation of Vitamin C molecule made nuclear submarine warfare possible. Without Vitamin C manufacture, the nuclear powers would be limited only to surface traveling vessels in land and air, as the scourge of the navy, scurvy, would have made long-term naval vessel operation impossible.

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Oh in my book it's Pauling who discovered the structure of DNA!! He had the helix down and everything, he just had it inside out. A silly mistake, really, and it would've taken him a very short time to realize it, which is why Watson and Crick rushed to the presses (Nature magazine) like crazy, writing up "their" discovery in a single hurried page.