Matthew Cobb

And Crick wasn't happy, and he said, well, I think...

the discovery is more important than the individual.

And they went for the object.

So at 12 o'clock was the double helix, which he was very happy about.

So he thought that, and in general, actually, that's, in a way, it's true, right?

Because, I mean, you know, we discover things.

I mean, you discovered a lot more important things than I have.

My discoveries are fairly minor.

And, you know, somebody else would have made them.

You know, if I wasn't here, it's nothing terribly important.

That's the nature of science.

We all make tiny little contributions.

And that's true of the double helix.

I think if Watson and Crick hadn't found it, then, you know, it would have been discovered in a few months by somebody, by Wilkins or by Franklin or by Pauling, or somebody would have found it.

But individuals do make a difference.

And that's, to go back to our starting point, his thinking, his way of thinking about what DNA meant and his...

his ability to then focus much later on on consciousness.

I mean, he created the field of consciousness studies as a scientific field, not as a philosophical, you know, pipe-sucking, musing on what life might be like.

So individuals do count as well.

It's quite complicated, the history of science.