An eternal battle

Francis Crick was one of the three people who won the Nobel Prize for deducing the structure of DNA in the 1950s - a discovery one can easily say has changed the world. Having recently joined The Francis Crick Institute, I was embarrassed to know precious little about the man. I had heard he was much nicer than his co-recipient James Watson (who has repeatedly proven himself to be a disgrace to the community). It was indeed a breath of fresh air to read the following in a biographical sketch about Crick. It's oddly reassuring to know that the uphill battle against sectarianism along the lines of gender, religion, race are not unique to our generation. Sometimes sexism, racism, religious fundamentalism are garbed in sophisticated language and seemingly harmless decisions but must still be shot down, as Francis Crick admirably did here. Although, could it be that while shooting down Churchill's religious biases Crick was being sexist? "Francis was a Founding Fellow of Churchill College, but resigned from that post when the College, with John Cockcroft FRS as Master and a devout Christian, agreed to build a chapel. Francis thought religion had no place in a modern institution of learning, such as a Cambridge college. He explained his decision to Winston Churchill, who replied that ‘a chapel is an amenity which many of those who live in the College may enjoy, and none need enter it unless they wish’. Francis must have greatly relished shaping his reply to a former First Lord of the Admiralty—it reflects his innate entertaining skills and forceful powers of expression: Dear Sir Winston, It was kind of you to write. I am sorry you do not understand why I resigned. To make my position a little clearer I enclose a cheque for ten guineas to open the Churchill College Hetairae fund. My hope is that eventually it will be possible to build a permanent accommodation within the College, to house a carefully chosen selection of young ladies in the charge of a suitable Madam who, once the institution has become traditional, will be provided, without offence, with dining rights at high table. Such a building will, I feel confident, be an amenity which many who live in the college will enjoy very much, and yet the instruction need not be compulsory and none need enter it unless they wish. Moreover, it would be open (conscience permitting) not merely to members of the Church of England, but also to Catholics, Non-Conformists, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, Zen Buddhists and even to atheists and agnostics such as myself. And yet I cannot help feeling that when you pass on my offer to the other Trustees — as I hope you will — they may not share my enthusiasm for such a truly educational project. They may feel, being men of the world, that to house such an establishment, however great the need and however correctly conducted, within the actual College would not command universal support. They may even feel that my offer of ten guineas to be a joke in rather poor taste. But that is exactly my view of the proposal of the Trustees to build a chapel, after the middle of the 20th century, in a new college and in particular in one with a special emphasis on science. Naturally some members of the College will be Christian, at least for the next decade or so, but I do not see why the College should tacitly endorse their beliefs by providing them with special facilities. The churches in the town, it has been said, are half empty. Let them go there. It will be no further than they have to go to their lectures. Even a joke in poor taste can be enjoyed, but I regret that my enjoyment of it entailed my resignation from the College which bears your illustrious name. Understandably I shall not be present on Saturday. I hope it all goes off well. 

Yours sincerely"

The complete biographical memoir can be found here: http://rsbm.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2017/05/22/rsbm.2017.0010