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CORVALLIS - This year the world of molecular biology will celebrate the 50th anniversary of James Watson and Francis Crick's discovery of the double helix structure of DNA, and on Feb. 28 at Oregon State University a science historian will explore the history and sociology behind these events.

Robert Olby, a research professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, will present "Why Celebrate the Discovery of the Double Helix?" at 7:30 p.m. in the LaSells Stewart Center, in a lecture sponsored by the OSU Libraries.

The event is free and open to the public.

Olby will identify the key elements expressed in the double helix model - in particular, those features that marked the social and political climate of the time. According to Olby, these features help explain the remarkable salience of the model, and shed light on the significance of further contributions by scientists such as OSU alumnus Linus Pauling, who approached the science of life from the molecular level.

The focus of Olby's research has been in genetics and molecular biology. He is known chiefly for his books, "The Origins of Mendalism" and "The Path to the Double Helix," and for "The Companion to the History of Modern Science," which he co-edited. His papers and reviews have appeared in scholarly journals since the 1960s; he now is preparing the first scholarly biography of Francis Crick.