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Forbes has introduced a new list of influential people, the inaugural 30 Under 30 Europe List. The list includes 300 people under the age of 30, divided into ten categories of 30, that are “leaders, creative inventors, and brash entrepreneurs.”
Emma Watson made the list of 30 entertainers. The category picked it’s 30 Under 30 by “watching young impresarios work their craft on the court and the silver screen.” Emma was nominated for both her work in film, and her work as the United Nations Women Goodwill Ambassador for gender equality. Forbes describes why Emma made the list, saying:
Emma Watson, 25
Actor
(United Kingdom) Arguably the most successful graduate of Hogwarts, Watson has starred in both big budget movies (“Noah”) and indie fare (“Colonia”). A United Nations Women Goodwill Ambassador since 2014, Watson’s advocacy on behalf of the HeForShe campaign makes her an important spokesperson for gender equality.
The entire list and all of its nominees may be seen here.
Emma Watson has started a new website for her HeForShe campaign that she introduced in 2014 as the Women’s Ambassador to the United Nations. HeForShe is a campaign calling for and working towards gender equality. It particularly focuses on bringing in men to the campaign, to have men working along side women for the equal empowerment of women.
The initiative was continued with the addition of the IMPACT 10x10x10 movement last year. Now, as a next step, Watson has introduced a new HeForShe website on her Facebook page, along with a short 15 minute interview. The introduction states that Watson and the HeForShe campaign hopes the website will be “the world’s largest crowdsourcing platform for gender equality solutions.” The interview and the post can be seen below.
In the interview Emma talks of the many people wanting to get involved with HeForShe but not sure how to do so. The team hopes that this website will help guide those who want to be apart of the largely grassroots movement, and share and spread ideas and solutions.
One can join the website by clicking “Count Me In.” Even without joining, users have the opportunity to use an interactive “Impact Map” that gives statistics on gender equality issues for individual countries selected. The website also has an “Impact Spotlight” that shares news of how HeForShe and other gender equality movements find success. And of course, the site offers users ways to take action and get involved.
Emma Watson also made a plug for her new feminist book club, Our Shared Shelf, encouraging people to join. Our Shared Shelf can be accessed through Goodreads, here.
Emma Watson is Porter Magazine’s current Winter 2015 cover, which brands itself as ‘A Celebration of Incredible Women’, and – true to this theme – the UN Women’s Goodwill Ambassador speaks ‘on female power, facing her fears and love without rules’ within the issue:
Sections from Emma’s feature are shown on the Porter website:
The photos of Emma looking strong as ever are reflected in these glimpses of the articles, quoting a new-found self confidence:
‘For the first time in my life I feel like I have a sense of self that I’m comfortable with’
Be sure to take a look at Emma’s new Feminist Book Club, Our Shared Shelf, which is already a huge success!
Emma Watson’s new feminist bookclub, Our Shared Shelf, is off to a very successful start. Since its inception last week, the bookclub currently boasts 82,102 members. Watson recently shared a Tweet of the bookclubs progress on Goodreads–not bad for having just started last week.
The Wall Street Journal reports on Emma’s success, saying:
Emma Watson has started a feminist book club and in the four days since she announced it, more than 76,000 people have signed up. The first book: Gloria Steinem’smemoir, “My Life on the Road.”
She settled on the name, “Our Shared Shelf.” In an introduction on the club’s Goodreads page, she said she had started reading books and essays about gender equality as part of her work with UN Women.
“There is so much amazing stuff out there,” she wrote. “Funny, inspiring, sad, thought-provoking, empowering! I’ve been discovering so much that, at times, I’ve felt like my head was about to explode… I decided to start a Feminist book club, as I want to share what I’m learning and hear your thoughts, too.”
The club will read one book each month.
If you are interested in joining Emma Watson’s book club, add yourself to the Goodreads group.
A new trailer has been released for the upcoming drama “Colonia,” starring Emma Watson alongside Daniel Bruhl. IndieWire reports:
Directed by Florian Gallenberger, the ’70s picture follows a German activist who travels to Chile and finds himself thrown into the notorious Colonia Dignidad, a torture camp run by an enigmatic cult, all due to his support of Salvador Allende. Effectively disappeared, it’s up to his flight attendant girlfriend to go undercover as a nun (really) to Colonia Dignidad, and rescue him from its clutches.
Colonia opens in Germany on February 18th; however, there is no official release date for the U.S. yet. Click here to watch the trailer and read the full synopsis for the film!
Earlier this week, Emma Watson asked fans to come up with a name for a feminist book club she’d like to start. This morning she chose “Our Shared Shelf” and promised more details to come. Details have arrived! About an hour ago, Emma posted, on her Facebook page, an explanation of her thoughts behind starting a feminist book club. The post is already gaining much attention:
Emma Watson is asking her Twitter followers to help her name her feminist book club. As we reported here at Leaky, Watson has recommended several titles to fellow readers over the years. It’s exciting to find that she’s going to share future reads on a whole new level!
There have been several creative suggestions, from “Watson Your Bookshelf” to “Read for She.” Whatever she calls it, we really want an invitation to join!
What would you name Emma Watson’s feminist book club? To see the suggestions and add your own, visit @EmmaWatson on Twitter.
It’s no surprise to anyone that the highly educated Emma Watson loves a good book. She has touted several favorites in interviews and on social media pages in the last few years.
This month, Harper’s Bazaar published a list of Emma Watson’s recommendations. It was originally compiled by Hello Giggles, with Harper’s Bazaar adding a few more titles from other sources.
The list is mostly novels but also includes singer-songwriter Patti Smith’s memoir, Just Kids. Two authors are listed for multiple books, Cheryl Strayed and Stephenie Meyer. Watson read three of Strayed’s books in three weeks, and she admitted that Meyer’s Twilight series was a guilty pleasure.
Other titles on the list include John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, which Watson stayed up until the wee hours of the morning reading, and A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini, which is also one of Malala Yousafzai’s favorite books.
Erika Johansen’s The Queen of the Tearling made the Emma Watson book list. This novel’s film rights are now owned by Warner Bros., and Watson has been slated to both produce and star in the production.
Harper’s Bazaar includes Emma Watson’s mention of Roald Dahl’s The BFG in a Time magazine interview, but, surprisingly, Le Petit Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, is not listed. Watson tells Time it is her favorite book, because, like The BFG, it takes her back to her childhood. “I like books that aren’t just lovely but that have memories in themselves. Just like playing a song, picking up a book again that has memories can take you back to another place or another time.”
Who understands this better than a Harry Potter fan?
For all 16 titles on the Emma Watson list from Harper’s Bazaar, see here.
Earlier this week, Emma Watson hosted a screening of a chilling new documentary, The True Cost. Emma hosted along side Andrew Morgan and Lucy Siegle.
The documentary is “a portrait of exploitation,” said the New York Times. CNBC stated that it “attacks the business of fast fashion.” The LA Times and many more gave their own chilling reviews.
The True Cost follows the creation of designer clothes in a fashion system that has nothing to do with the fashion industry today. The documentary tracks the global affects of consumerism and high cost of materialism, that leads to tragedies caused by sweat shops in third world countries. The film questions how an industry that generates millions in profits is unable to properly support many of its workers.
In addition to following the harm and exploitation of human workers, the documentary also features the severe ecological damage created by the fashion industry.
It is not surprising, giving her support to many philanthropic causes, that Emma would also through her support behind this one as well. Emma has been known to be a voice in the fashion industry, calling for fair trade fashion and a strengthening of women’s rights.
A disturbing and graphic (viewer discretion advised, especially for young fans) trailer of the documentary can be seen here, at truecostmovie.com. The documentary will be featured on Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon and more.
Though the cover of the November issue of Italian Vogue when to Gigi Hadid, Emma Watson is makes a splash in her editorial spread.
The short English text published on the website of the Italian Vogue taps into Watson’s role as Hermione, stating
“It is strange to see her on the big screen in difficult cinematic roles, or to listen to her speak from the United Nations pulpit to defend the rights between men and women.”
The photos feature Watson in a Gothic, haunting setting, sporting dark brown hair and beautiful dresses. About her experiences as Hermione and her life after the films, she says:
“It is always surprising for me, to see how long this period of time is, where I have come and from where I started. It is pleasant to follow that journey.”
Watson, who is now working as the leader of the HeForShe campaign as well as continuing her acting career with film projects like Disney’s Beauty and the Beast says:
“I want to be a woman of the Renaissance. I want to paint, and write. And above all I want to continue to act. I simply want to do everything.”
You can find the fashion spread and a video about the shoot from the website of the Italian Vogue. To read more about Emma Watson’s new look, you can check out the fashion & beauty article from Bustle.
Over the weekend, Emma Watson participated in an auction for the Small Steps Project. Small Steps provides emergency aid, food and shoes to children and others living in communities in municipal garbage dumps around the world. They accept donations of time and skills from willing working volunteers, people will to participate at their events, and donations, especially from companies who are donating products and services. Small Steps describes their two main goals:
We deliver our projects in two phases. In the first phase we deliver emergency aid distribution projects, providing items that will protect people from the immediate dangers on rubbish dumps: from shoes, gloves and clothing to mosquito nets food and water.
This enables us to establish the demographics of the dump and devise and implement our second phase-sustainable projects that aim to reduce the time children spend on dumps and support them in taking small steps into education.
Emma Watson participated in one of Small Steps’ funding campaigns, the Celebrity Shoe Auction. Watson donated a signed pair of Jimmy Choo shoes (size 37.5 EU), which she wore to the premiere of My Week with Marylyn. Pictures of these shoes and of Emma wearing them (as well as pictures of the shoes Emma donated last year) can be seen on the Small Steps website.
The auction closed last night, and Emma’s shoes gathered £2,622.00 for the winning bid in 51 bids.
Yesterday, Emma Watson had the honor to sit down with women’s rights activist Malala Yousafzai.
After being shot and almost killed for standing up for her right to go to school when the Taliban in Pakistan were trying to limit educational opportunities for women, Malala was not deterred from her beliefs that women should receive a minimum of 12 years equal education. She made it her mission.
The attempted assassination on her life brought a lot of attention to her cause, and brought about Pakistan’s first Right To Free and Compulsory Education Bill. However, there is still a lot of work to be done. Through the Malala Fund, Malala is working to bring the number of girls out of school world wide (60 million) down to zero. (Read more about Malala’s story here, and her fund here.)
Emma Watson did some research about Malala’s activist campaign, as its goals align similarly with her HeForShe campaign. Watson was going to ask Malala if she ever considered herself a feminist, but took the question out of the interview the day before it was to occur. To Emma’s delight, Malala put it back in and opened up the dialogue of what it means to fight for women’s rights, and the stigma behind the word “feminist.” Both Malala and Emma would like the word “feminism” to be a synonym for “equality.”
Emma and Malala also talked about the role of religion in fighting for women’s equality. In a day and age where the doctrines of many religions are misinterpreted and misrepresented, especially Islam, Malala explains how her religion’s doctrines of peace work with her initiatives and not against them.
As Malala’s father is a huge part of Malala’s beliefs and helped her start her movement, Emma and Malala talk about the role of men in feminine movements. Emma Watson invites men to be involved in creating equality for women through her HeForShe campaign. Malala also recognizes the important role that both genders have in such movements.
When taking questions from the audience, Malala and Emma addressed the question about age. They encouraged young women, no matter how young they are, to make their voices heard. Malala used her personal story to show that even children, age 11 and younger, have a huge, important part in shaping movements and even leading them.
The video of Emma Watson’s interview with Malala can be seen below or on Emma’s Facebook page, where Emma posted it with a long message to her fans.
Into Film Festival opening Q&AToday I met Malala. She was giving, utterly graceful, compelling and intelligent. That might sound obvious but I was struck by this even more in person. There are lots of NGOs out there in the world doing great things… But if there were one I would put my money on to succeed and make change on this planet, it would be hers. (The Malala Fund). Malala isn’t messing around or mincing her words (one of the many reasons I love her). She has the strength of her convictions coupled with the kind of determination I rarely encounter… And it doesn’t seem to have been diminished by the success she has already had. And lastly…She has a sense of peace around her. I leave this for last because it is perhaps the most important. Maybe as a result of what she has been through? I personally think it is just who she is…Perhaps the most moving moment of today for me was when Malala addressed the issue of feminism. To give you some background, I had initially planned to ask Malala whether or not she was a feminist but then researched to see whether she had used this word to describe herself. Having seen that she hadn’t, I decided to take the question out before the day of our interview. To my utter shock Malala put the question back into one of her own answers and identified herself. Maybe feminist isn’t the easiest word to use… But she did it ANYWAY. You can probably see in the interview how I felt about this. She also gave me time at the end of the Q&A to speak about some of my own work, which she most certainly didn’t need to do, I was there to interview her. I think this gesture is so emblematic of what Malala and I went on to discuss. I’ve spoken before on what a controversial word feminism is currently. More recently, I am learning what a factionalized movement it is too. We are all moving towards the same goal. Let’s not make it scary to say you’re a feminist. I want to make it a welcoming and inclusive movement. Let’s join our hands and move together so we can make real change. Malala and I are pretty serious about it but we need you. With love, Emma x#HeNamedMeMalala #notjustamovieamovement Malala Fund Into Film
Posted by Emma Watson on Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Emma Watson also tweeted her support of the #HopeForOurDaughters campaign. #HopeForOurDaughters created a video that shows statistics that set women apart from men, and that disadvantage them where men have opportunities. The video shows that many statistics that were true in 1915 are still true today, 100 years later. The video campaign is formatted very similarly to Always’ “Like a Girl” Super Bowl commercial, that also wanted to bring awareness to how women are treated and how that impacts their self image. The #HopeForOurDaughters video can be see below:
Emma Watson has just tweeted that she will be a part of a live Q&A (over Twitter), discussing her new movie Regression. As previously reported, Emma Watson plays a tormented young woman who fears for her life after experiencing something horrific. According to IMDB, Emma Watson’s character accuses her father of a crime he does not remember committing.
The Live Q+A will take place 9 am LA Time and 5 pm UK Time.
The trailer for Regression can be seen below:
Emma Watson has been in Spain, promoting her new film projects–Regression and Beauty and the Beast. Emma will grace the covers of the ELLE Spain magazine for the October issue. In the magazine, she speaks of her work in the thriller, Regression. Some of the images from the October issue of ELLE Spain have made their way online. They can be seen here, and below.
In a new interview in Spain, she spoke out about Beauty and the Beast. The video can be seen below. It is the first time we have heard Emma speak openly about the film (though she said there is not much she is allowed to say). In the interview she said that there were new parts of the story that did not appear in the animated version of the film.
Thanks to SnitchSeeker for the heads up!
Luke Evans, Gaston of the upcoming Beauty and the Beast live-action remake (directed by Bill Condon), opened up about the process of filming the highly anticipated film, set to hit the theaters on March 17, 2017, while promoting his film High Rise at the Toronto International Film Festival. Though the film as a complete package sounds extremely exciting, it is Luke Evans’ comments about Emma Watson’s role in the production that really warm our hearts.
Evans calls Ms. Watson a “wonderful”, saying:
“She epitomizes what Belle should be in the 21st century to young girls; she’s a strong woman. We all know Emma as Emma, a strong woman, she has a voice, she uses it very effectively and I admire her for that. She’s brought some of that to Belle. She’s not just a Disney princess, she’s more than a Disney princess, and she has a beautiful sensitive side to her. She’s quite delicate to look at, but she’s not at all. She’s a really strong, feisty woman and we have some fantastic scenes in the film. I was making her laugh more than she should have been laughing.”
With songs being one of the main features of the upcoming film, curiosity has obviously settled around the question of whether Emma Watson has the voice to make justice to the iconic songs (and the new original songs written for the film). According to Luke Evans, she does! To add to his previous comments about Ms. Watson, Evans says: “Great singing voice to boot. She’s a triple threat. Makes me sick.”
In addition to Emma Watson and Luke Evans, the film stars Dan Stevens as The Beast, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, Ewan McGregor as Lumiere and Josh Gad as Le Fou.
You can watch Luke Evans’ interview from Collider website.
Emma Watson’s new film, Colonia, made it’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this weekend. The Hollywood Reporter noted that many American buyers were lining up to buy the film, though the film has already attracted global buyers who are in the final bid for the film.
Beta Cinema, which is handling world sales, is in final negotiations on an international deal that will see a single studio take multiple territories for Colonia, giving the title a major global push.
Beta also has closed separate deals for the picture in multiple international territories, including with Good Films in Italy, NEW in South Korea and Shooting Stars for the Middle East.
The Hollywood Reporter also wrote an article, reviewing Colonia after it premiered. The reviews were not glowing or full of praise. The opening paragraph was quite negative, calling the movie a “poor attempt,” and the rest of the review does not gain any positivity beyond that.
Starring Emma Watson and Daniel Bruhl as two English-speaking German lovers who find themselves trapped in English-speaking Chile just as Augusto Pinochet launches his coup in 1974, the film offers neither actor the kind of material they merit — and gives Bruhl one of his more embarrassing tasks when his character is forced to play a “retard” in order to trick his Chilean captors, resulting in a performance that comes awfully close to the Simple Jack parody from Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder.
Some of this could have been tolerable if the script — by Gallenberger and Torsten Wenzel —weren’t so steeped in genre clichés from start to finish, beginning with an opening scene that has Lufthansa stewardess, Lena (Watson), and her graphic designer lover, Daniel (Bruhl), meeting by pure chance at a street rally in support of Salvador Allende.
Both Watson and Bruhl do what they can with what’s on offer, though their performances are hampered by all the flat dialogue, as well as by the film’s refusal to truly contextualize anything outside a few explanations in the opening and closing title cards. When one young nun is asked about Colonia, she answers that “there is nothing to understand.” Really? Perhaps it’s a language problem after all, though if anything should actually be said in Spanish here, it would probably be: ay, caramba!
If you wish to read this crushing review in full, you can find it on The Hollywood Reporter, here. The trailer for Colonia was also released today. It may be seen below.
Emma Watson tweeted this morning, sharing with fans an exclusive photo from her new movie, Colonia. The film is to make its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival tomorrow. Hopefully more news to come!
As we know from her recent social justice endeavours, Emma Watson is eager to use her celebrity status to make a positive impact on the world.
Watson, who is the Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women, is working to promote ethical, socially conscious fashion, reports Vanity Fair:
The actress, who has made Vanity Fair’s International Best-Dressed List for the past few consecutive years, has embarked on her own fashion challenge during the current press tour for Alejandro Amenábar’s Regression. Her goal: encouraging a green carpet, rather than red, full of stylish ensembles from designers who do not use fur or chemicals that could harm the environment.
Inspired by Andrew Morgan’s recent documentary, The True Cost, which explores the disturbing underbelly of “fast fashion,” Watson began the challenge with the following message posted on Instagram: “Inspired to consider the whole process of creating a fashion look, we are thinking about all the people, pieces and moving parts! This rack includes designers that are considering local craft and production, artisan skills, the environment, sustainability and the longevity of fashion!”
In a review of The True Cost this May, the New York Times recounts the horrors that the documentary uncovers in the fast-fashion industry including “zealous pesticide use,” underpaid factory workers who are abused to meet America’s affordable demands, and clogged landfills. The review ends as follows: “The True Cost stirs and saddens. Not least because it’s unlikely to reach the young consumers most in need of its revelations.”
Hearteningly, Watson wants to use her celebrity to reach that exact demographic.
Watson has an active Twitter presence, and has posted several tweets about her new cause:
You can read the full article from Vanity Fair here.
Vogue has released a new video, featuring Emma Watson. The video accompany’s the recent interview Vogue conducted with Emma, as their cover girl for the UK September issue. In the video, Emma talks about her HeForShe initiative and asks members of the fashion industry questions about gender equality within their field of work.
Earlier this week, Toronto International Film Festival website announced a large portion of its official line-up for the festival starting on September 10. Included in the line up is Colonia, a thriller directed by Florian Gallenberger, starring Emma Watson and Daniel Brühl.
Playlist writes that Colonia:
“tells the story of Lena and Daniel, a young couple, who become entangled in the Chilean military coup of 1973. Daniel is abducted by Pinochet’s secret police and Lena tracks him to a sealed off area in the South of the country, called Colonia Dignidad. The Colonia presents itself as a charitable mission run by lay preacher Paul Schäfer but, in fact, is a place nobody ever escaped from. Lena decides to join the cult in order to find Daniel. “
The script for Colonia is co-written by Gallenberger and Torsten Wenzel. The film is produced by Benjamin Herrmann and Nicholas Steil. Colonia will premiere as part of the TIFF Special Presentations Program.
Both Playlist and Firstshowing.net have released three first look photos from the film.
Earlier this year, we reported that Emma Watson shared her experience of playing this role in Colonia. She talked of how the role challenged her as an actress. For more information on Colonia, visit the official TIFF page designated for it.
Emma Watson is to take a leading role alongside Tom hanks in a film adaptation of Dave Egger’s book The Circle. The satirical New York Times bestselling novel, about the removal of personal privacy at the hands of a large tech corporation,was Egger’s first fictional work. Time reports:
‘The novel follows a young woman named Mae (Watson) who lands a job at a massive tech company called The Circle (think: the power of Google, the influence of Facebook and the machinations of Hooli). It takes a dark turn when Mae meets a mysterious older man (Hanks) and begins to reckon with the deterioration of privacy in a world full of surveillance technology and linked with social media networks.’
According to Variety, director James Ponsoldt said of Watson:
“Emma Watson is one of my favorite actors, and her incredible talent, sensitivity and deep intelligence will bring an electric energy to The Circle…“
Tom Hanks will also be producing the film alongside Gary Goetzman, and will start shooting in September.
Recent tweets by Emma Watson demonstrate her continuing passion for her role as leader of the HeforShe Campaign for gender equality. Emma tweeted that she felt ‘speechless’, followed by another tweet thanking those supporting the campaign. The Time article she posted with this stated that:
‘Big companies like Twitter and Vodafone and major universities like Georgetown and Oxford have all pledged to take concrete steps towards gender equality as part of the final installment of UNWomen’s IMPACT 10x10x10 initiative, released Thursday. The initiative is part of the HeForShe movement unveiled by Emma Watson at the UN last fall, designed to encourage 10 CEOs, 10 University Presidents, and 10 world leaders to commit to advancing the cause of women’s equality.’
You can see the tweets below:
By: Sara Pinotti,
on 6/28/2014
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By Kersten Hall
It is a safe bet that the name of Pierre Rolland rings very few bells among the British public. In 2012, Rolland, riding for Team Europcar finished in eighth place in the overall final classifications of the Tour de France whilst Sir Bradley Wiggins has since become a household name following his fantastic achievement of being the first British person ever to win the most famous cycle race in the world.
In the world of sport, we remember a winner. But the history of science is often also described in similar terms – as a tale of winners and losers racing to the finish line. Nowhere is this more true than in the story of the discovery of the structure of DNA. When James Watson’s book, The Double Helix was published in 1968, it depicted science as a frantic and often ruthless race in which the winner clearly took all. In Watson’s account, it was he and his Cambridge colleague Francis Crick who were first to cross the finish line, with their competitors Rosalind Franklin at Kings College, London and Linus Pauling at Caltech, Pasadena trailing in behind.
There is no denying the importance of Watson and Crick’s achievement: their double-helical model of DNA not only answered fundamental questions in biology such as how organisms pass on hereditary traits from one generation to the next but also heralded the advent of genetic engineering and the production of vital new medicines such as recombinant insulin. But it is worth asking whether this portrayal of science as a breathless race to the finish line with only winners and losers, is necessarily an accurate one. And perhaps more importantly, does it actually obscure the way that science really works?
William Astbury. Reproduced with the permission of Leeds University Library
To illustrate this point, it is worth remembering that Watson and Crick obtained a vital clue to solving the double-helix thanks to a photograph taken by the crystallographer Rosalind Franklin. Labelled in her lab notes as ‘Photo 51′, it showed a pattern of black spots arranged in the shape of a cross, formed when X-rays were diffracted by fibres of DNA. The effect of this image on Watson was dramatic. The sight of the black cross, he later said, made his jaw drop and pulse race for he knew that this pattern could only arise from a molecule that was helical in shape.
In recognition of its importance in the discovery of the double-helical structure of DNA, a plaque on the wall outside King’s College, London where Franklin worked now hails ‘Photo 51‘ as being ‘one of the world’s most important photographs’. Yet curiously, neither Watson nor Franklin had been the first to observe this striking cross pattern. For almost a year earlier, the physicist William Astbury working in his lab at Leeds had obtained an almost identical X-ray diffraction pattern of DNA.
Yet despite obtaining this clue that would prove to be so vital to Watson and Crick, Astbury never solved the double-helical structure himself and whilst the Cambridge duo went to win the Nobel Prize for their work, Astbury remains largely forgotten.
But to dismiss him as a mere ‘also-ran’ in the race for the double-helix would be both harsh and hasty: the questions that Astbury was asking and the aims of his research were subtly but significantly different to those of Watson and Crick. The Cambridge duo were solely focussed on DNA, whereas Astbury felt that by studying a wide range of biological fibres from wool to bacterial flagella, he might uncover some deep common theme based on molecular shape that could unify the whole of biology. It was this emphasis on the molecular shape of fibres and how these shapes could change that formed his core definition of the new science of ‘molecular biology’ which he helped to found and popularise, and one that has had a profound impact on modern biology and medicine.
On 5th July this year, Leeds will host ‘Le Grand Depart’ – the start of the 2014 Tour de France. As the contestants begin to climb the hills of Yorkshire each will no doubt harbour dreams of wearing the coveted yellow jersey and all will have their sights firmly fixed on crossing the same ultimate finishing line. At first sight scientific discovery may also appear to be a race towards a single finish line, but in truth it is a much more muddled affair rather like a badly organised school sports day in which several races all taking place in different directions and over different distances became jumbled together. For this reason it makes little sense to think of Astbury as having ‘lost’ the race for DNA to Watson and Crick. That Leeds was chosen to host the start of the 2014 Tour de France, is an honour for which the city can take pride, but in the life and work of William Astbury it also has a scientific heritage of which it can be equally proud.
Kersten Hall is graduated from St. Anne’s College, Oxford with a degree in biochemistry, before embarking on a PhD at the University of Leeds using molecular biology to study how viruses evade the human immune system. He then worked as a Research Fellow in the School of Medicine at Leeds during which time he developed a keen interest in the historical and philosophical roots of molecular biology. He is now Visiting Fellow in the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science, where his research focuses on the origins of molecular biology and in particular the role of the pioneering physicist William T. Astbury and the work of Sir William and Lawrence Bragg. He is the author of The Man in the Monkeynut Coat.
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Image credit: William Astbury, Reproduced with the permission of Leeds University Library
The post The Man in the Monkeynut Coat and the men in the yellow jerseys appeared first on OUPblog.
Emma Watson's anticipated new film, Noah, opened in United States' theaters today! There has been much publicity surrounding the film, with a lot of promotional involvement from Ms. Watson. If you have seen the film, please share your reactions with us, below in the comments!
Ever felt like asking Emma Watson a question? She's hosting a spontaneous live Q&A on her twitter right now! Send her a tweet @EmWatson with the #AskEmma.
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