![]() ![]() I have deferred to the advice of my publishers on that issue! (p. The title of this book, The Third Man of the Double Helix, is not the one I would have chosen. In fact, in the preface, Wilkins admits that he did not like the title to begin with: At first glance, the connection between the movie on the one hand and the science autobiography on the other seems rather superficial. Wilkens, a world-famous biophysicist, had been awarded the Nobel Prize (in 1962) as co-discoverer of the structure of DNA (in 1953), together with James Watson and Francis Crick. More than half a century later, in 2003, the autobiography of Maurice Wilkins (1916–2004) was published (shortly before his death), entitled The Third Man of the Double Helix (Wilkins 2003/2005). ![]() The novel begins with the arrival of a boyhood friend (Holly Martins), author of cheap Westerns, who adores Harry and comes to look for him (because the latter allegedly promised him a job), but is informed (upon arrival) that his hero has tragically died. The movie is set in heavily-bombed post-war Vienna and tells the story of a racketeer (Harry Lime, played by Orson Welles) who makes money by clandestine sales of diluted penicillin, but manages to keep out of the hands of the military police (i.e., the four allied occupying powers) by travelling via the underground urban sewage system and, when things get rough, by simulating a fatal car accident and organising his own mock funeral. 1 It was directed by Carol Reed ( 1949) and based on a screenplay by Graham Greene (who published a novel version in 1950), while the cast involved celluloid celebrities such as Alida Valli, Trevor Howard and Orson Welles. The Third Man, released on September 2, 1949, is regarded by many as one of the greatest cinema classics of all time. For that reason, science autobiographies can provide valuable input (case material) for teaching philosophy and history of science to science students. Thus, I will explain how science autobiographies on the one hand and genres of the imagination (such as novels and movies) on the other may deepen our comprehension of tensions and dilemmas of life sciences research then and now. the ‘militarisation’ of research and the relationship between beauty and destruction). ![]() I will focus my comparative analysis on issues still relevant today, such as dual use, the handling of sensitive scientific information (in a moral setting defined by the tension between collaboration and competition) and, finally, on the interwovenness of science and warfare (i.e. Taken together, these documents shed an intriguing light on the vicissitudes of budding life sciences research during the post-war era. ![]() If subjected to a (psychoanalytically inspired) comparative analysis, multiple correspondences between movie and memoirs can be brought to the fore. In this paper I intend to show that there is much more to this title than merely its familiar ring. In the preface, he diffidently points out that the title (which presents him as the ‘third’ man credited with the co-discovery of the structure of DNA, besides Watson and Crick) was chosen by his publisher, as a reference to the famous 1949 movie no doubt, featuring Orson Welles in his classical role as penicillin racketeer Harry Lime. In 2003, biophysicist and Nobel Laureate Maurice Wilkins published his autobiography entitled The Third Man. ![]()
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