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60 years ago, Francis Crick and James Watson heralded a revolution in the world of genetics by discovering the structure of DNA molecule in 1953. Weeks before announcing the discovery, Francis Crick wrote a letter to his 12 year old son, Michael explaining his Nobel Prize winning discovery. That very letter has fetched $6 million at a Christie’s auction in New York. This is the highest amount ever fetched by a letter. The total includes $5.3 million winning bid plus buyer’s premium. The final bid is three times the pre-auction estimate of $2 million. The letter was bought by an anonymous bidder over the phone.
Half of the proceeds of the auction will go to Michael and the rest will go to Salk Institute for Biological Studies, California, where Francis Crick worked till his demise in 2004 at the ripe age of 88. The seven page letter starts with these lines: “My dear Michael, Jim Watson and I have probably made a most important discovery.” The handwritten letter goes on to describe the working of the DNA molecule and a rough diagram of the structure. Crick senior won the Nobel Prize in 1962 for this discovery along with his American partner James Watson.
The 23-carat gold Nobel Prize medal along with other items like the Nobel prize diploma, his lab coat, and his cancelled Nobel check. These items will be sold by Heritage Auctions and 20 percent of the proceeds will go to the Francis Crick Institute in London. Other items at the Christies auction included a sketch of Francis Crick made by his wife that fetched $17,500, and one of his notebooks, which fetched $21,250. James Watson was also there at the auction. Crick Junior, who has had a long career as a computer programmer hopes that the medal and the letter will be put for public display to inspire young scientists world over. After the auction his family has been calling him ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’.
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