James Watson, the American Nobel laureate and one of the scientists who discovered the structure of DNA, has died at the age of 97.
According to the BBC, Watson, along with British scientist Francis Crick, identified the double-helix structure of DNA in 1953 — a discovery that paved the way for rapid advances in molecular biology and is considered one of the greatest scientific achievements of the 20th century.
However, his reputation was severely tarnished in later years due to controversial remarks about race and gender. In a television interview, he suggested that genetic factors were responsible for the average IQ differences between Black and White populations.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where Watson worked and conducted research for decades, confirmed his death to the BBC.
Watson received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962, shared with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, for discovering the double-helix structure of DNA. The trio famously declared at the time, “We have discovered the secret of life.”
Following his controversial remarks on race, Watson stated that he felt alienated from the scientific community.
While working at Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory, Watson told The Times newspaper in 2007 that he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa,” arguing that “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really.”
The remarks led to his removal as Chancellor of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. In 2019, after making further comments linking race and intelligence, the institution revoked all his honorary titles, including Chancellor Emeritus, Oliver R. Grace Professor Emeritus, and Honorary Trustee.
The laboratory said in a statement that “Dr. Watson’s statements are reprehensible and unsupported by science.”
The BBC reported that although DNA was first discovered in 1869, scientists did not understand it to be the genetic material of cells until 1943. Its structure remained a mystery until Watson and Crick’s breakthrough.
Their model of the DNA molecule was based in part on X-ray diffraction images produced by Rosalind Franklin at King’s College London. Without her knowledge, Crick and Watson used her data to construct their model. Maurice Wilkins, who also shared the Nobel Prize, had collaborated with Franklin on the structure of DNA.
In 2014, Watson auctioned his Nobel gold medal for $4.8 million, saying he felt ostracized by the scientific community after his remarks about race. A Russian billionaire purchased the medal and later returned it to him.
Watson was born in April 1928 in Chicago to Jean and James Watson, descendants of English, Scottish, and Irish immigrants.
At 15, he won a scholarship to the University of Chicago, where he became interested in diffraction techniques that revealed atomic structures by reflecting X-rays. He later moved to Cambridge to continue his research on DNA, where he met Crick and began building large-scale models of its possible structure.
After his groundbreaking discovery, Watson and his wife Elizabeth moved to Harvard University, where he became a professor of biology. The couple had two sons, one of whom was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
In 1968, Watson took charge of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York State and is credited with transforming it into one of the world’s leading centers for scientific research.
