Series II: Writings (SB/2), 1947-2012

The Writings series consists of manuscripts, typescripts, preprints, photocopies, and proofs of papers written by both Brenner and other scientists. It sometimes includes related correspondence and supporting materials.



The Writings series is divided into 3 subseries.

The Brenner subseries (SB/2/1) consists of papers authored or co-authored by Sydney Brenner from the late 1940s to 2012. It is arranged alphabetically by the title of the paper. The subseries documents Brenner's scientific career, especially his work on the genetic code, the genome of Caernorhabditis elegans, mRNA, the Human Genome Project, and the pufferfish genome. Of note are manuscripts and typescripts for a number of landmark papers, including "An Unstable Intermediate Carrying Information from Genes to Ribosomes for Protein Synthesis," "General Nature of the Genetic Code for Proteins," "UGA: A Third Nonsense Triplet in the Genetic Code" (which includes supporting research files), and "An Unstable Intermediate Carrying Information From Genes to Ribosomes For Protein Snythesis" (which includes supporting research files). The subseries also includes some research proposals for the Medical Research Council (MRC). Manuscripts written under Lynx Therapeutics are also included in this subseries. Brenner's reviews of books are generally filed under "Reviews" and then arranged by the title of the book. Informal notes from meetings and conferences has also been included in this series. Please see the Institutional Correspondence subseries (SB/1/2) for related correspondence with publishers.

The Theses subseries (SB/2/2) consists of Brenner's two theses. The first was presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the University of the Witwatersrand in 1947, and the second was submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Exeter College - Oxford in 1954.

The Others subseries (SB/2/3) consists of papers written by authors other than Sydney Brenner, and date from around 1950 to 2003. It is arranged alphabetically by author (the first author is typically used, an exception are papers which Brenner had filed under another author's name). Papers whose authorship is unknown are filed by title. The papers are often preprints or typescripts that were sent to Brenner or Crick for review before publication. Some papers of note include: "Experimental Approaches to the Problem of Biogenesis" by Leslie Orgel, a MRC research proposal from around 1963; Cambridge Lecture Notes by Jaques Monod from around 1970; an upublished paper by Crick and Orgel ("On Loopy Codes"); and "The Genetic Code" by Carl Woese (circa 1963), which includes notes by Francis Crick. Some of the papers found in these files appear to have belonged to Francis Crick, who shared an office with Brenner at the Medical Research Council (See also: Francis Crick series (SB/11)).