A new name for UKCMRI
25 May 2011
The change of name will coincide with the formal start of construction of the institute when ground is broken in early July.
Born in 1916, Francis Crick is best known for his contribution to the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA in February 1953, during his time at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. Crick, together with colleague James Watson and collaborator Maurice Wilkins, was awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery.
The Director and Chief Executive of UKCMRI, Paul Nurse, said: "Francis Crick was a superb British scientist. He embodied the qualities of collaboration, creativity and tenacity we would like to instil within the culture of the institute to be named for him. Francis Crick led a revolution in biology and medicine, was noted for his intelligence, openness to new ideas, for switching disciplines from physics to biology, and his collaborations - not least with James Watson, Maurice Wilkins and later, Sydney Brenner.
"Now that construction of the institute is beginning, we can adopt its permanent name. The site at St Pancras has been transformed over the past weeks in readiness for construction formally to begin."
The institute is founded by four of the world's leading medical research organisations: the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust and UCL (University College London). In April, Imperial College London and King's College London signalled their intention to join the partnership behind the institute. The building will be completed in 2015.
Image: Francis Crick at a scientific symposium at Stanford University School of Medicine, 1980. Credit: Wellcome Library, London.
