Compact Biographies

Francis Crick Biography

Francis Harry Campton Crick is one of the most influential and brilliant scientific minds of the 20th century. Dabbling in various fields but specifically in physics and microbiology, Francis Crick was a specialist in a highly specialised field.

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Born 8 June 1916 Francis Crick’s family was certainly no stranger to a high scientific pedigree. His grandfather was a talented naturalist and enjoyed his study of the living world and even began a correspondence with Charles Darwin. Francis Crick himself had a deep and abiding love for science and rigorous scientific thought from a very young age. He was a self-taught scholar extensively reading any and all scientific books that he could acquire. At the young age of 12, he even requested that his parents excuse him from going to church as he believed that the subject of religion was outside of the purview of scientific thought which is what he wanted to pursue.

As a brilliant and gifted young scientist, Crick attained a Bachelor of Science diploma from University College London. Like most gifted people, though, he did seem to have an Achilles heel which was language arts. He attempted to gain entrance to study at Cambridge, but his application was rejected almost certainly due to his failing Latin classes. In this day and age, it seems silly that an inability to speak an almost dead language would keep one of the foremost scientific minds out of higher learning, but this was the early 20th century and such institutions did and in many places still do hold this style of education in high regard.

Crick eventually found a college that would accept him and he began his first PhD project attempting to measure the viscosity of water while at extreme temperatures. His idea was that the viscosity of water changed as the temperature of the water rose and went to work attempting to study this change while during his time at University College London.

To many, this may sound incredibly boring and Francis Crick would agree with you as he once mentioned that it was the “dullest problem imaginable”. Fortunately, Crick was saved by the outbreak of World War II and, more specifically, he was saved by a German bomb which fell through the roof and blew up the laboratory that he was working in. The destruction of his project allowed Crick to turn his attention to other fields of science.

Like most true-hearted Brits, he had a strong desire to serve his country during World War II and worked at the Admiralty Research Laboratory during the war years. One of the specific projects he worked on was one that saved the lives of countless British and American sailors by helping design mines that could be used successfully against German minesweepers. This was a big innovation as it limited German ship movements and the capabilities of their minesweepers.

Having been saved from a life studying chemistry, Crick in 1947 went on to begin studying biology which is where his brilliant career would truly shine. The year 1953 is probably the crowning moment of his career or at least the one that the general populace is most familiar with. It was in that year that Francis Crick while working in tandem with James Watson, discovered the structure of DNA molecules.

Discovering this structure was a major scientific and biological leap into the future. From this initial assessment, many things about the process of the natural world could be explained. It opened up brand new ideas of how to study genetics, heredity, and even methodologies of fighting new diseases with a better understanding of how the natural world itself works.

Crick’s initial discovery has led to our technological advancement where things such as DNA and gene editing as well as gene therapy are becoming more acceptable;  none of which would have happened without the initial discovery of ...

In the first episode of the third season of the 5 Minute Biographies podcast, we take a brief look at the short and turbulent life of a Hollywood legend - Marilyn Monroe.

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In the first episode of the third season of 5 Minute Biographies, we take a look at the turbulent life of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe

In the tenth and final episode of season 2 of the 5 Minute Biographies podcast, we take a brief look at the short and sad life of a genius from the world of art - Vincent Van Gogh.

Please consider supporting the show by buying me a coffee at http://www.5minutebiographies.com/coffee/ - Thanks!

In this week's episode of 5 Minute Biographies we take a quick look at short and sad life of an art genius - Vincent Van Gogh

In the ninth episode of the 5 Minute Biographies podcast, we take a brief look at the life of one of the biggest female stars of the silver screen - Joan Crawford.

Please consider supporting the show by buying me a coffee at http://www.5minutebiographies.com/coffee/ - Thanks!

“I believe in the dollar. Everything I earn, I spend.” – Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford Biography

Lucille Fay LeSueur was the birth name of Hollywood actress Joan Crawford when she was born in San Antonio, Texas, USA. She was born on 23 March, although the year is somewhat contested. She claimed herself that she was born in 1908, but according to her daughter Christine she was born in 1904 and lied about her age when she arrived in Hollywood. Lucille was the third of three children born to her parents Thomas E. LeSueur and Anna Bell Johnson. Her sister, Daisy, died before she was born but she also had an elder brother called Hal. Thomas left the family shortly before Lucille’s birth and so her mother re-married. Her step-father, Henry J. Cassin ran the Ramsey Opera House in Lawton, Oklahoma where the family lived and Lucille enjoyed watching the acts performing on the stage.

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Lucille’s schooling never progressed much beyond elementary school but she knew from a young age that she wanted to be a dancer. However, an accident with a broken milk bottle left her requiring surgery to repair her damaged foot and so she had 18 months away from her dancing lessons.

After being accused of embezzlement in 1916, Cassin found himself blacklisted in Lawton, even though he had been acquitted by the court, and so he and the family moved to Kansas City, where Lucille was placed in the St. Agnes Academy. There, after her mother and step-father separated, she remained, having to do more work such as cooking and cleaning than actually studying. She then went to Rockingham Academy and in 1922 to Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri but withdrew soon after, realising she wasn’t ready for college.

She started dancing under her birth name in choruses and travelling reviews and was placed in the chorus line for a Broadway show called Innocent Eyes in 1924. At the same time, wanting additional work, she approached Nils Granlund, a publicist for Loews Theatres. He arranged a screen test which was sent by him to Hollywood and on 24 December 1924 he received an offer from MGM for a $75 per week contract. Lucille borrowed $400 for travel expenses and arrived in California on 1 January 1925.

Her first film was Lady of the Night in 1925 in which she was credited still as Lucille LeSueur. She played the body double of the film’s star Norma Shearer and a number of other similarly small parts came her way during the same year. She had been recognised as having the potential to become a star but it was felt that her name sounded fake. So, a competition was arranged to “Name the Star” in Movie Weekly, and Joan Crawford was born.

In 1925 she was cast in Sally, Irene and Mary and this would be the first film in which her true potential as an actress could be seen by the audience. In 1926 she was named as one of the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers Baby Stars, along with Fay Wray, Janet Gaynor and Mary Astor and within a few years she started to play the female romantic lead to many of the big name actors of the era including John Gilbert, William Haynes and Tim McCoy. Crawford stated that when she played the scantily-clad female assistant to Lon Chaney Senior’s knife thrower with no arms in 1927’s The Unknown she “became aware for the first time of the difference between standing in front of a camera, and acting”. She credited Chaney with being the single most influential person in her life in terms of what acting is all about.

Her springboard moment came when she played the role of Diana Medford in 1928’s Our Dancing Daughters and a number of hits followed quickly afterwards.

On 3 June 1929, Joan Crawford married Douglas Fairbanks Jr. His parents, Hollywood ‘royal couple’ Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford were opposed to the marriage and would not allow the newlyweds to visit ...

In the eighth episode of the 5 Minute Biographies podcast, we take a brief look at the life of one of the most influential golf professionals of all time and founder of The Masters - Bobby Jones.

Please consider supporting the show by buying me a coffee at http://www.5minutebiographies.com/coffee/ - Thanks!

In this week's episode of 5 Minute Biographies we take a quick look at the life of one of the most influential golf professionals of all time and founder of The Masters - Bobby Jones

In the seventh episode of the 5 Minute Biographies podcast, we take a brief look at the life of a hero of the Soviet Union, and the first man to travel into space - Yuri Gagarin.

Please consider supporting the show by buying me a coffee at http://www.5minutebiographies.com/coffee/ - Thanks!