A graduate of the University College London and Oxford, Robert C. Olby (b. 1933) earned a reputation as an innovative historian of genetics with the publication of first book The Origins of Mendelism in 1966. When a former undergraduate friend of his, John Preble, suggested that he study the history of molecular biology, Olby gained an introduction to Francis Crick, the British biophysicist and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, who became both a scientific informant and close friend. Olby's The Path to the Double Helix (1974) provided an overview of the intellectual and institutional background that resulted in Watson and Crick's "physical and chemical account of the gene." In his introduction, Olby stated simply that his hope was that the book would "afford the historian, sociologist and scientist a guide to the source material relating to the origins of molecular biology, with special reference to DNA," but in fact it presented a masterful use of both primary written sources and oral histories. Ironically, Olby claimed that as a student at the University College London in the fifties, he could not remember hearing the word DNA ever being uttered.

Olby taught history of science at the University of Leeds from 1969-1993 and in the department of the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh from 1994-2001, where he remains as Research Professor.

The Olby Collection (23 folders, approximately 97 items) is comprised almost entirely of photocopies of correspondence from scientists involved in the discovery of the double helical structure of DNA in 1953. The correspondents include Sydney Brenner, Francis Crick, Max Delbruck, Rosalind Franklin, Roger Herriott, Alfred Hershey, Salvadore Luria, Heinrich Matthaei, Matthew Meselson, Linus Pauling, Alexander Rich, and James Watson. The topics discussed within the correspondence include but are not limited to the structure of DNA, Pauling's theory, RNA backbone, Jonathan Warner, and the RNA central code.

Provenance

Gift of Robert C. Olby, June 1969 and October 1970 (acc. No. 1976-344ms and 1976-345ms).

Preferred citation

Cite as: Robert C. Olby Collection, American Philosophical Society.

Other finding aids

The Robert Olby Papers are briefly described in Bentley Glass' A Guide to the Genetics Collections of the APS.

Bibliography

Physiology, Biochemistry, and Biophysics Note

This collection of letters, documents, and biographical information represents some of the materials Olby had gathered for his noted book The Path to the Double Helix (1974).

Genetics Note

This collection contains materials which relate to the history of genetics.

• Brenner, Sydney, 1927-2019
• Crick, Francis, 1916-2004
• Delbrück, Max, 1906-1981
• Franklin, Rosalind, 1920-1958
• Gamow, George, 1904-1968
• Herriott, Roger Moss, 1908-
• Hershey, A. D. (Alfred Day)
• Luria, S. E. (Salvador Edward), 1912-1991
• Matthaei, Heinrich
• Nirenberg, Marshall W., 1927-2010
• Olby, Robert C. (Robert Cecil)
• Pauling, Linus, 1901-1994
• Rich, Alexander
• Watson, James Dewey

• DNA -- Structure
• Genetics
• Molecular biology -- History