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For Sale: One Nobel Prize Medal (Slightly Used, By Francis Crick)
Hugh Pickens writes "UPI reports that for the first time in the history of Nobel Prize, one of the Nobel Prize medals, along with the diploma presented by the Nobel committee, is on auction — with an opening bid of $250,000. Awarded to Francis Crick, who along with James Watson and Maurice Wilkins won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1962 'for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material,' the medal will be auctioned off in New York City, by Heritage Auctions. The medal has been kept in a safe deposit box in California since Crick's widow passed away in 2007 and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Francis Crick Institute of disease research scheduled to open in London in 2015. '"By auctioning his Nobel it will finally be made available for public display and be well looked after. Our hope is that, by having it available for display, it can be an inspiration to the next generation of scientists," says Crick's granddaughter, Kindra Crick. "My granddad was honored to have received the Nobel Prize, but he was not the type to display his awards; his office walls contained a large chalkboard, artwork and a portrait of Charles Darwin."'"
When I see things like these, especially with grandkids as the spokespeople, it just makes me think it's a cash grab. It's not due to any "inspirational" mojo behind hanging it up somewhere. If that were the case, they should just donate it outright, and maybe have people pay a couple bucks a gander, and toss that to the Francis Crick Institute. Not "a portion" of the proceeds, which could be $10 on a potential windfall.
A quarter of a million dollars will pay for a lot of trips to Harrod's, past and present.
Opening bid: $0.01
They're not worth even that, after Obama got his for sustaining war, torture and murdering own citizens.
Upward mobility is a slippery slope - the higher you climb the more you show your ass.
I wish scientists had money to set up research institutes, hospitals, and universities.
Then I'll mix it into a drink, consume it and gain his wisdom.
That's how DNA works, right?
"Our hope is that, by having it available for display, it can be an inspiration to the next generation of scientists," says Crick's granddaughter, Kindra Check."
It's Kindra "Crick".
Proofreading much?
You know, I've been mostly ignoring the Timothy bashing that goes on here, but now I'm starting to get it. Timothy, please try a little harder. Hugh Pickens? The same - sloppy.
Pawn Stars would pay $50 for it.
sudo make me a sandwich
After all, Obama was nominated for one just 12 days after he took office. They're handing them out like candy these days.
I'll give you $50!
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
Award them to the relatives of Rosalind Franklin.
Someone should have told him to stop trying to use it in vending machines...
It would be great to buy this and donate it to the Rosalind Franklin Society ... http://www.rosalindfranklinsociety.org/
"Asleep at the switch? I wasn't asleep, I was drunk!" -- Homer
Is getting a fat Check!
Are they restricting the bids to museums?
I see no where that private individual cannot buy this to add to their personal collection.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
That way, he'd be able to claim that he's a Nobel-holding doctor, rather than just a doctor!
I am officially gone from
Here is a link to the item, it is being auctioned off by Heritage Auctions: http://historical.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=6093&lotIdNo=50001
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
That's gotta be worth something
Crick may have been a brilliant microbiologist, but he certainly doesn't know shit about business.
Well, to be fair to Dr. Crick, he's been dead since 2004, so knowing much of anything is probably a pretty big challenge for him.
The MLK family is nothing compared to a Vulture Capitalist like Mitt Romney, who gets praised for maximizing his own profits out of other's works.
Poo on buying the medal: they should release the CAD data so we all can download and print our very own 3D copy.
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
Perhaps Michael Mann would be interested.
Dark Reflection
Yes, how dare he make money and provide employment. Doesn't he know that the government wants people to be slaves to the entitlement mentality and them provide them with all sorts of free stuff, penalize them for trying to break their shackles and blame the conservatives for not doing enough.
My money is on Craig Venter. Unlike Crick he loves to adorn his walls with his accomplishments. Sadly he's lacking this one.
If he was a really brilliant microbiologist, death wouldn't have stopped him.
Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
If it comes with the Prize Money, I bid half a million.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
Corpus has the money; it could afford it. It's historically relevant, and I could think of nothing better than to hold a raise a pint in their honour.
And then maybe chase it bitterly with a bottle of Jack Daniels, in tribute to young Miss Rosalind Franklin from whom they stole so much.
If he was a really brilliant microbiologist, death wouldn't have stopped him.
I believe he's currently making breakthroughs in the decomposition of organic solids in a subterranian environment.
You give something to somewhat they can do what they like with it. A lot more interesting prize is loaning an award to someone for a year- like the Stanley Cup.
love is just extroverted narcissism
It doesn't help that in three lines, he managed to convey that: he likes to talk crap about scientists, didn't know Francis Crick had nothing to do with the decision to sell the prize, and that he can't tell the difference between the science and peace prizes.
It was too honest... as in too honest of a display of his own stupidity and/or trolling.
Did the submitter even read the article? It clearly said that Aage Bohr's medal was sold last year.
Could just be legalese to the effect that the auction house usually takes a percentage, but who really knows.
It's already been mentioned that Obummer's medal was for "peace". This is for science. There's a difference.
Way too often these kinds of soapbox issues get blind support simply because the person "wronged" is/was female.
So many people's kneejerk response is "Oh, male chauvinist pigs deprived a woman of her rightful fame/fortune/glory/whatever? Typical!" without taking into account any of the true facts of the actual situation.
They were men, she was a woman, they got a Nobel, she didn't: WRONGNESS! And a guaranteed +5 up-mod on Slashdot.
If it was the other way around (male scientist "robbed" by female scientist) , you'd never hear anything about it. Not these days.
Isn't this the guy who came up with the structure for DNA while on LSD?
-Myke
Why would anyone want it? It's not like they can somehow borrow the achievement that earned it by having it on their mantelpiece. Well I guess they could try to change the name to their own and tell anyone who will listen that they received a Nobel prize. What does the prize look like anyway? Maybe the granddaughter can just write in the name of the auction winner with magic marker or something. Maybe for 300,000+ she would be willing to cross out the other names as well so that you don't have to share the prize. I can't picture the kind of person who would want someone else's Nobel prize even for free let alone for 250k. It's sort of like buying someone else's university diploma.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
Sorry, what? When you have a net worth in the hundreds of millions, that's money that you have, not somebody else. Economics is a zero-sum game: if someone is rich, that means several other people must be poor. A social welfare scheme provides a safety net to those with nothing -- it rarely provides them with a comfortable sum. I grew up in the UK, with its welfare state. I went to a high school with a massively underprivileged intake. You think the benefits disincentivised them from looking for work? Does that include the dinner tokens that the kids got so that they could have a decent lunch every day? When a fall in the playground became a disaster because their parents wouldn't be able to replace the torn jacket or trousers?
I was never poor, but I've seen what it does to people, and believe me: benefits really aren't the source of the problem.
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
Unfortunately, microorganisms aren't exactly rocket scientists....
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
...Economics is a zero-sum game: if someone is rich, that means several other people must be poor....
No it doesn't. I don't even know of any theoretical economic theory which suggests this. I suppose that the nearest you could get to it would be unreconstructed Marxist theory, and no one has believed that for 50 years or more...
Modern economics is all just made up as we go along. Ever increasing house prices? Sure, why not! High risk loans? Yeah, no problem. It we break a million almost-definite-to-default loans into a million tiny little pieces, there's absolutely no risk!
And many claim it was modern economics that sh@t all over democracy at the last UK general election. Minority government? Oh no, that would be bad for our credit rating, so the LibDems signed up to government that they (and more notably their voters) didn't believe in.
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
Why would anyone want someone else's award?
Wow, the ultimate geocoin! http://geocaching.com/
You just cannot let Nobel prize medals fall into any ONE not being a Nobel cause physical identification information for Nobel prize winners propagates slowly as the Nobel winners base increases, so ANYONE with some money can pass as The Winner to ANY ONE for enough time to SCAM! If not destroyed, it should revert to the Committe for a MUSEUM (or be recycled), probably AFTER some funds disclosing... [Portion of the proceedings cause mixed nationalities, but indeed, an assumption of value for genetic derivations of the winner]. I DEFINITELY need help to CLEAN UP Facebook and my internet communications. Glitches at every moment, people acting weird, I NEED HELP TO BE CERTAIN PEOPLE I CONTACT REMAIN THE SAME, ARE INDEPENDENT AND ARE NOT BEING BLOCKED BY FACEBOOK ITSELF or some personal agenda agent (psychopath). And that they are NOT being __assassinated__, what is the point of finding you indeed HAVE 20000+ direct and immediate relatives if NO ONE IN THE WHOLE WORLD can stop an imbecile thief from tracking them and killing them? Not to mention new people, understanding I DO seek and find THE BEST OVERALL EVERYWHERE. What is Slashdot going to do to help here if what is at stake is the existence and freedom of the internet? And I do not mean one of the REPEATERS, I mean the REAL people who conceived all this.