Francis Crick

In 1977 Crick moved to the Salk Institute of Biological Studies at La Jolla, California, where he pursued his early interest in neurobiology, studying how the brain functions. He also worked on questions related to the origins of life on Earth. Never afraid to announce a controversial theory, in 1981 Crick wrote Life Itself, in which he argued that life on Earth could have originated in microorganisms that arrived from elsewhere in the universe.

Other books by Crick include Molecules and Men (1966) and The Astonishing Hypothesis (1994). He also authored more than 130 scientific papers.

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Crick was awarded the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, the Award of Merit from the Gairdner Foundation, and the Prix Charles Leopold Meyer of the French Academy of Sciences. Crick was a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society, the French Academy of Sciences, and the Irish Academy.