The Passing of an Era
Sometimes you see a name and an obituary, and it suddenly hits you.
Someone you knew—or once spent a lot of time thinking about—floods your consciousness, along with thoughts of the past. It’s transporting, and also a reminder of the frailty and ephemeral realities of life.
I never met Frank Stahl in person, but I felt I knew him well. Over the past several years, I’ve spent untold hours listening to his stories and watching his smile. So when I saw the news that this remarkable scientist—who, along with his collaborator and friend Matt Meselson, conducted what is called “the most beautiful experiment” in the history of biology—had died at age 95, I celebrated a long life well lived. But I also felt a sense of loss—for a man, and for the era he had come to embody.
A few years back, my colleagues and I at the Science Communication Lab brought Frank and Matt back together to make a short film about their friendship and collaboration. It was early 2020, just before the pandemic would shut down the world. And these two men, one in his 90s, the other close to it, immediately fell back into the easy rapport that can only come from knowing someone well. They shared stories from dacdes past. They were funny, thoughtful, and inspiring.
Their work changed the way we understand life on Earth. James Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins had discovered the structure of DNA, which led to a profound question: How does DNA replicate when cells divide—driving the most basic mechanism of life? Meselson and Stahl answered that question with their transformative experiment.
There is so much more I can say about these two men and what they accomplished, but luckily I don’t have to because there’s a beautiful movie where they talk about the experience themselves. I share it below and I ask you to check it out, because even if you are not a science buff, I think you might enjoy it.
One of the privileges of making documentary films is you can capture people and moments that would otherwise be lost forever. And as I processed news of Frank Stahl’s passing, I was so happy that we had made this film which has been inspiring students and the public for years, and hopefully for many years to come.
In the film, Frank said his mother wanted him to join the Navy. Well, I can’t think of a greater service he could have offered his country—and the world—than his work in science.
May he Rest in Peace.
If you wish to support the work we do at the Science Communication Lab at a very difficult moment for science, you can do so here:
As a scientist who grew up in the field, there are not enough words to express appreciation for the work of these incredible visionaries.
Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful reuniting of brilliant scientists that started us down the river of knowledge! Last graduate student of Linus Pauling? Feynman playing his drums at their house??? Such a wonderful window into the past!