February 21, 1964
Dear Dr. Robinson:
I am sorry not to have replied more promptly to your letter of 12 February, but because I have been travelling it only reached me yesterday.
I would suggest that the title of the Lecture be "Molecular Genetics". The laboratory in which I work is the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, England. (I am not the Director of it.)
The Lecture will deal with the chemical nature of the genetic material, how it is copied and the way it influences the cell by controlling the production of specific protein molecules. It will explain how the genetic information is written on a polymer--a very long, thin molecule--in a four-letter chemical code. The cell "translates" this into the twenty-letter code used to manufacture protein molecules. Because of the enormous magnification produced by this process, a mistake of a single atom in the genetic material may, in special cases, cause the death of the organism.
I enclose a very short biographical note. I'm sorry I don't have my standard version with me. You can find further details, if you wish, in WHO'S WHO. I'm afraid I don't have a photo of myself here.
I shall be very pleased to have a meal with the Genetics Faculty and talk to them about recent developments. Looking forward to meeting you on March 5.
Yours sincerely,
F.H.C. Crick