| Write a 1-2 page Essay based on #3 below and submit it to the Blackboard link under the Assignments folder as a Word or pdf file. 1. Watch the film (the link is on Blackboard under the Course Content and Assignment folders). You can also find it on You Tube, but be sure to watch the entire film. 2. Take notes on the role of the following individuals in the film: Francis Crick, James (Jim) Watson, Rosalind Franklin, Maurice Wilkins, Raymond Gosling, Erwin Chargaff, and Linus Pauling (not in the film directly but his nephew Peter interacted with some of the characters). Do not turn in these notes – keep them for study purposes. 3. Choose and answer ONE of these three essay questions, using details/evidence from the film1. A) What positive qualities did Franklin have as a scientist that both Watson and Crick seemed to lack? What qualities did Watson and Crick have that Franklin lacked? Do you think Watson and Crick would ever have solved the structure of DNA without Franklin’s data? B) The “race” to discover the structure of DNA was driven forward both by openness and sharing, and by competitiveness and secrecy. Describe some examples from the film of “openness and sharing” and of “competitiveness and secrecy”. C) Scientists may be motivated simply by a love of truth regardless of who gets the credit; they may be motivated by the desire for fame and feel it matters a great deal who gets the credit; or they may be motivated by the excitement of going after life’s big questions rather than more mundane ones. What characters in the film exemplify these different views of the psychology of scientists? |
