Francis Crick was born 8 June 1916, eldest son of Harry and Annie Elizabeth Crick (née Wilkins). He was educated at Northampton Grammar School and then Mill Hill School, then studied physics at University College, London, later taking a research degree at Caius College, Cambridge (receiving an Honorary Fellowship in 1976); he married 1st, in 1940, Ruth Doreen Dodd (divorced, 1947), having one son; and 2nd, in 1949, Odile Speed, having two daughters.

Crick's career included the following: British Admiralty Research Laboratory, 1940-47; Strangeways Laboratory, Cambridge, 1947-49; Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, 1949-77; Brooklyn Polytechnic, New York, United States, 1953-54. Visiting Lecturer Rockefeller Institute, New York, 1959; Visiting Professor, Chemistry Department, Harvard, 1959; Fellow, Churchill College, Cambridge, 1960-61; Visiting Biophysics Professor, Harvard, 1962; Non-resident Fellow, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego, 1962-73; Ferkauf Foundation Visiting Professor, Salk Institute, 1976-77; Fellow, UCL, 1962; Foreign Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1962; Honorary Member, American Society of Biological Chemistry, 1963; Honorary MRIA, 1964; Honorary Fellow: Churchill College, Cambridge, 1965; Caius College, Cambridge, 1976; FAAAS 1966; Honorary FRSE, 1966; Fellow, INSA, 1982; Honorary Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences, 1985; Foreign Associate, US National Academy of Sciences, 1969; Member, German Academy of Science, Leopoldina, 1969; Foreign Member, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 1972; Honorary Member, Hellenic Biochemistry and Biophysics Society, 1974; Associate Foreign Member, French Academy of Sciences, 1978; J. W. Kieckhefer Distinguished Professor, Salk Institute for Biological Studies; Adjunct Professor of Psychology, University of California, San Diego.

His awards included: Warren Triennial Prize, Boston, USA (with J. D. Watson), 1959; Lasker Award (jointly), 1960; Prix Charles Léopold Mayer, French Académies des Sciences, 1961; Research Corporation Award (with J. D. Watson), 1961; Gairdner Foundation Award, Toronto, 1962; Nobel Prize for Medicine (jointly), 1962; Royal Medal, Royal Society, 1972; Copley Medal, Royal Society, 1975; Michelson-Morley Award, Cleveland, 1981; Benjamin P. Cheney Medal, Spokane, Washington, 1986; Golden Plate Award, Phoenix, 1987; Albert Medal, RSA, 1987; Wright Prize VIII, Harvey Mudd College, California, 1988; Joseph Priestly Award, Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, 1988.

Crick's publications included: Of Molecules and Men, 1966; Life Itself, 1981; What Mad Pursuit: a personal view of scientific discovery, 1988; The Astonishing Hypothesis: The scientific search for the soul, 1994; papers and articles on molecular and cell biology and on neurobiology in scientific journals.

Crick died on 28 July 2004.