Chapters 1-10

The first third of The Double Helix introduces the main players in the research and discovery of DNA's structure. Watson blends descriptions of personalities with an account of how he arrives at the Cavendish laboratory in Cambridge, England, and begins his relationships with other scientists, both friend and foe. As a young Midwestern man on his first big adventure, Watson decides that "a scientist's life might be interesting socially as well as intellectually," and he pursues that philosophy through jaunts to the Alps as well as ' 'midnight trips to waterfront bars."

Watson's initial purpose in going to the Cavendish lab is to study the molecular structure of proteins by building three-dimensional models of them. Upon meeting Crick, whom he claims never to have seen "in a modest mood," he is excited at finding a fellow scientist who shares his interest in studying DNA. Because the...