Environment as catalyst
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* Catherine Younger-Lewis, MD MJ

*   © 2007 Canadian Medical Association

In his classic book, *The Double Helix*, Dr. James Watson relates the circumstances surrounding the pivotal discovery in 1953 of the molecular structure of the DNA molecule — the double helix. As a young researcher at Cambridge University, he revelled in life at the famous university and, in the excerpt below, acknowledges the importance of environment, both social and physical, to the successful fusion of ideas in research.

![Figure1](http://www.cmaj.ca/https://www.cmaj.ca/content/cmaj/177/3/274/F1.medium.gif)

[Figure1](http://www.cmaj.ca/content/177/3/274/F1)

Photo by: iStockphoto

The following morning I felt marvelously alive when I awoke. On my way to the Whim I slowly walked toward the Clare Bridge, staring up at the gothic pinnacles of the King's College Chapel that stood out sharply against the spring sky. I briefly stopped and looked over the perfect Georgian features of the recently cleaned Gibbs Building, thinking that much of our success was due to the long uneventful periods when we walked among the colleges or unobtrusively read the new books that came into Heffer's Bookstore.1

## REFERENCE

1.  1. Watson JD. *The double helix: a personal account of the discovery of the structure of DNA*. New York: Atheneum; 1968. p. 199–200.