Invitations Refused 1966

Date:
1966
Reference:
PP/CRI/E/2/5
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Invitations Refused 1966. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    5/211
    sjttjjr ecu-cl luj m - a 3. íi-6Í . THE BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION BROADCASTING HOUSE, LONDON, W.i TELEGRAMS: BROADCASTS LONDON TELEX ★ CABLES : BROADCASTS LONDON-Wl ★ TELEX : 22182 TELEPHONE : LANGHAM 4468 Ext Î 295¿+ Ref: 03 /T/BP 21 st December 1 966 Dear Dr. Crick, Your name has been suggested to me by Dr. Archie Clow of this unit as a possible speaker in a series of 25 minute talks I would like to produce in the Third Programme starting in April 1967. The series is on concepts in science and would cover the concepts of biological species f topology, genes and the genetic code, energy conservation, molecular bonding, fundamental particles, and symmetry, and gravitation as applied to cosmology. In these talks, I would like the speaker to show how the concept emerged in scientific thinking and how it is being used to gain a greater understanding of the workings of nature now. The prime feature of the talks would be that they are amenable to Third Programme listeners. These people, we assume, are the intellectual peers of the speakers, but do not have the specialist background knowledge. The way to interest them is, I think, by presentation of ideas and concepts rather than hard scientific facts, and after all, it is ideas that are more amenable to broadcasting than facts and figures which find their rightful place in the written word. What I am aiming to achieve in the series is a conversational style of talking, and the use of analogies in the presentation of the argument so that the listeners can gain an appreciation of what the ideas of science are about - and what scientific thinking is at the present time in the fields I have selected. As an introduction to the series, I am hoping to get a philosopher of science to talk about the nature of concepts - whether they bring us closer to reality, or whether they are a necessary intermediary to a reality that we can never fully understand. Would you like to consider doing a talk on the concept of genes and how the present thinking on the genetic code fits into the older concept. Do the ideas of genetic
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3