Crick was the first son of Harry Crick (1887–1948) and Annie Elizabeth Crick (née Wilkins; 1879–1955). He was born on 8 June 1916 and raised in Weston Favell, then a small village near the English town of

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In 1947, aged 31, Crick began studying biology and became part of an important migration of physical scientists into biology research. This migration was made possible by the

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Crick married twice, fathered three children and was the grandfather of six grandchildren; his brother Anthony (born in 1918) predeceased him in 1966.
Spouses:
• Ruth Doreen Crick, née Dodd (b. 1913, m. 18 February 1940 – 8 May

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Crick was interested in two fundamental unsolved problems of biology: how molecules make the transition from the non-living to the living, and

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Crick referred to himself as a humanist, which he defined as the belief "that human problems can and must be faced in terms of human moral and intellectual resources without invoking supernatural authority." He publicly called for humanism to replace religion as a guiding force

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During the 1960s, Crick became concerned with the origins of the genetic code. In 1966, Crick took the place of Leslie Orgel at a meeting where Orgel was to talk about the origin of life. Crick speculated about possible stages by which an initially simple

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Use of other researchers' data
An enduring controversy has been generated by Watson and Crick's use of DNA X-ray diffraction datacollected by Franklin and Wilkins. The

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