“The nations of the world must see that the human genome belongs to the world”
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James Watson
James Dewey Watson was an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he and Francis Crick co-authored an academic paper in Nature proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule, building on research by Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling. In 1962, Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries conc…
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science · American biologist (1928–2025) · biologist · geneticist · zoologist · biochemist · molecular biologist · academic · university teacher · chemist · physicist · writer · also James Watson, James Dewey Watson, James D. Watson, Watson
Born 6 April 1928 · Died 6 November 2025 · Q83333
74 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 2 entries
“The luckiest thing that ever happened to me was that my father didn”
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2025· 13 entries
The Boston Globe: Watson’s legacy points to what’s at stake in today’s assault on science
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STAT: James Watson’s lifelong friend and protégé on his complicated legacy
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Phys.org: James Watson, co-discoverer of the double-helix shape of DNA, has died at age 97
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Yahoo: James Watson helped crack DNA's code, sparking medical advances and ethical debates
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Yahoo: James Watson, Nobel Prize-winning biologist who discovered the structure of DNA with Francis Crick
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Wall Street Journal: James Watson, Who Co-Discovered DNA Structure, Dies at 97
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Bloomberg L.P.: James Watson, Who Helped Discover DNA Structure, Dies at 97
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Ars Technica: James Watson, who helped unravel DNA’s double-helix, has died
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A week after being transferred to hospice care following treatment for an infection
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Died 2025-11-06.
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“Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you're not going to hire them.”
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“There is only one science, physics: everything else is social work.”
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“People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty. I think it would be great.”
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2019· 1 entry
After the broadcast of a documentary where Watson reiterated these views on race and genetics, CSHL revoked his honorary titles and severed all ties with him
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2014· 2 entries
Watson sold his Nobel Prize medal to raise money after complaining of being made an "unperson" following controversial statements he had made
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Watson published a paper in The Lancet suggesting that biological oxidants may have a different role than is thought in diseases including diabetes, dementia, heart disease and cancer
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2008· 1 entry
Watson was appointed chancellor emeritus of CSHL, but continued to advise and guide project work at the laboratory
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2007· 4 entries
Watson said, "I turned against the left wing because they don't like genetics, because genetics implies that sometimes in life we fail because we have bad genes
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“I turned against the left wing because they don”
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After making comments claiming that there is a genetic link between race and intelligence
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Watson became the second person (after Craig Venter) to publish his fully sequenced genome online, after it was presented to him on May 31, 2007, by 454 Life Sciences Corporation in collaboration with scientists at the H
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2006· 1 entry
Due in part to his remarks about women and science
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2005· 2 entries
Won Othmer Gold Medal (2005).
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Awarded honorary doctor of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (2005).
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2003· 2 entries
Was one of 22 Nobel Laureates who signed the Humanist Manifesto
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"People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty
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2002· 2 entries
Awarded Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2002).
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Awarded Canada Gairdner International Award (2002).
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2000· 4 entries
Won Mendel Medal (2000).
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Won Philadelphia Liberty Medal (2000).
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Watson suggested a link between skin color and sex drive, hypothesizing that dark-skinned people have stronger libidos
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Saying: "Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you're not going to hire them
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1998· 1 entry
Won Masaryk University Gold Medal (1998).
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1997· 2 entries
Won National Medal of Science (1997).
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Watson was quoted in The Sunday Telegraph, stating: "If you could find the gene which determines sexuality and a woman decides she doesn't want a homosexual child, well, let her
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1994· 3 entries
Won Lomonosov Gold Medal (1994).
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Watson became president of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
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Watson started as president and served for 10 years
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1993· 1 entry
Won Copley Medal (1993).
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1990· 1 entry
Watson was appointed as the head of the Human Genome Project at the National Institutes of Health, a position he held until April 10, 1992
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1988· 1 entry
Published “Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales.” in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology — cited 29,352 times.
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1985· 1 entry
Awarded EMBO Membership (1985).
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1983· 1 entry
Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship (1983).
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1981· 1 entry
Awarded Foreign Member of the Royal Society (1981).
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1980· 1 entry
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics — for the discovery of violations of fundamental symmetry principles in the decay of neutral K-mesons.
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1977· 1 entry
Won Presidential Medal of Freedom presented by Gerald Ford (1977).
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1975· 2 entries
And reissued in 2000), Francis Crick said that he regarded Watson's book as a "contemptible pack of damned nonsense"
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On the thirtieth anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Watson was one of over 2,000 scientists and engineers who spoke out against nuclear proliferation to President Gerald Ford, arguing that there was no proven metho
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1971· 1 entry
Awarded John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science (1971).
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1968· 3 entries
“inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa”
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Watson wrote The Double Helix, listed by the board of the Modern Library as number seven in their list of 100 Best Nonfiction books
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Watson was appointed director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
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1965· 1 entry
Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship (1965).
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1962· 4 entries
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine — for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material.
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Awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1962).
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For their research on the structure of nucleic acids
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Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living
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1960· 1 entry
Awarded Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (1960).
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1958· 1 entry
And was therefore ineligible for nomination
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1956· 1 entry
Watson accepted a position in the biology department at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts
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1953· 1 entry
And Francis Crick co-authored an academic paper in Nature proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule, building on research by Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling
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1951· 2 entries
The chemists Linus Pauling, Robert Corey and Herman Branson in California published their model of the amino acid alpha helix, a result that grew out of their efforts in X-ray crystallography and molecular model building
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Watson visited the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in Naples
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1950· 1 entry
Studied at Indiana University Bloomington, Doctor of Philosophy (1948–1950).
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1949· 1 entry
Watson took a course with Felix Haurowitz that included the conventional view of that time: that genes were proteins and able to replicate themselves
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1948· 1 entry
Watson began his PhD research in Luria's laboratory at Indiana University
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1947· 3 entries
Studied at University of Chicago, Bachelor of Science (1943–1947).
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Watson left the University of Chicago to become a graduate student at Indiana University, attracted by the presence at Bloomington of the 1946 Nobel Prize winner Hermann Joseph Muller, who in crucial papers published in
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And received his doctorate from Indiana University Bloomington in 1950
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1946· 1 entry
Watson changed his professional ambitions from the study of ornithology to genetics
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1928· 2 entries
The only son of Jean (née Mitchell) and James D
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Born 1928-04-06.
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