The Sydney Brenner Research Fellowship, endowed by the Francis Goelet Charitable Trust in 2006, is one of three opportunities offered by the CSHL Center for Humanities & History of Modern Biology. It offers stipends of up to $5,000 to fund travel and other expenses associated with work on a significant research project in the history of the life sciences drawing on collections in the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Archives. The CSHL collections themselves are very broad in scope, with extensive manuscript and photograph collections encompassing activity around the world as well as at CSHL and several precursor institutions. While around a third of our collections are digitized and can be consulted online, many materials can only be viewed at the archive. Please see descriptions of the CSHL collections at the Archives homepage and consult detailed finding aids on CSHL ArchivesSpace.

 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press An exhibit showcasing the life of scientist Calvin Bridges (1889-1938).

2008-2009 Marsha Richmond

Wayne State University

Associate Professor, History of Science Examination of CSHL's visual collections for the history of women's role in early genetics.

2007-2008 James Schwartz

Harvard University

Visiting Scholar in Molecular and Cellular Biology  

James Schwartz's book, In Pursuit of the GeneIn Pursuit of the Gene: From Darwin to DNA (2010), Harvard University Press. (book)

The mystery of inheritance has captivated thinkers since antiquity, and the unlocking of this mystery—the development of classical genetics—is one of humanity’s greatest achievements. This great scientific and human drama is the story told fully and for the first time in this book.

2006-2007 Robert Olby

University of Pittsburgh

Department of History and Philosophy of Science  

Francis Crick: Hunter of Life's Secrets Book CoverFrancis Crick: Hunter of Life's Secrets (2009), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. (book)

"This engrossing biography by one of molecular biology's foremost scholars reveals the remarkable evolution of Francis Crick's scientific career and the shaping of his personality. From unpromising beginnings, he became a vital contributor to a remarkably creative period in science. Olby chronicles Crick's life from his early studies in biophysics, to the discovery of the structure of DNA, to his later work in neuroscience and the nature of consciousness. This account is woven together with insights into his personal life gained through access to Crick's papers, family, and friends. Robert Olby's book is a richly detailed portrait of one of the great scientists of our time."

Review from Human Genetics:

Crick could have wished for no more suitable biographer than science historian Robert Olby, who knew him for almost 40 years and who has had full access to family members and documents...Olby gives a vivid account both of Crick's work over a period of 60 years, and of his life, and there is much in this book that will prove to be unfamiliar, perhaps especially to geneticists...For exploring and documenting all these and other aspects of Crick's life in a readable, sensitive and not uncritical manner, readers from all backgrounds have much to thank Robert Olby for. His story will help to confirm Francis Crick as one of the key people responsible for the transformation of our understanding of life and its processes.