Son to sell Francis Crick meaning of life letter

A TOUCHING letter from the scientist who discovered DNA to his 12-year-old son – written weeks before the public announcement of his findings in 1953 – will go on sale next month.

The handwritten note in which Francis Crick tells Michael of his “most important discovery” is expected to fetch up to £1.3 million at the auction to be held at Christie’s in New York.

Dr Crick wrote: “We have built a model for the structure of de-oxy-ribose-nucleic-acid, (read it carefully) called DNA for short.”

The biologist drew a diagram in the letter dated March 19, 1953, saying: “Our structure is very beautiful.”

He added: “In other words we think we have found the basic copying mechanism by which life comes from life.”

Dr Crick signed the letter: “Lots of love, Daddy.”

The pioneering scientist from Northampton went on to win a Nobel Prize in 1962.