Horace Freeland Judson, Science Historian, Dies at 80

The cause was complications of a stroke, his daughter Olivia said.

Ten years in the making and based on interviews with more than a hundred scientists, “The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology” revisited the critical discoveries in molecular biology, notably the double-helix structure of DNA, its mode of replication and the role of RNA and proteins in carrying out its commands.

“It stands entirely by itself,” said the molecular biologist Matthew Meselson, who is prominent in its pages. “If he had not written it, there never would have been an account of the DNA revolution equal to its importance, that captures what really went on.”

With a novelist’s sense of pace and drama, Mr. Judson put arcane scientific information within the reach of the common reader while weaving a tale rich in incident, conflict and character.