james watson

American Nobel Prize winning scientist James Watson, who discovered the structure of DNA, has died at the age of 97. In one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th century, he collaborated with British scientist Francis Crick in 1953 to identify the double-helix structure of DNA.

However, his statements regarding race and gender seriously damaged his reputation. In a TV program he made the controversial comment that genes could be the reason for the difference in IQ tests between black and white people.

discovered dna

Watson’s death has been confirmed to the BBC by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he worked and conducted research for decades. Watson won the Nobel Prize in 1962 for discovering the double helix structure of DNA along with Morris Wilkins and Francis Crick. At that time he had said, “We have discovered the secret of life.” Later, due to his controversial statements on race, the scientific society distanced himself from him.

the statements were heavy

In 2007, when he previously worked at Cambridge University’s Cavendish Lab, he told The Times newspaper that he was “disillusioned about the future of Africa” ​​because “all our policies assume that African people have the same intelligence as us – whereas all the tests say otherwise.” After this statement, he was removed from the post of Chancellor at Cold Spring Harbor Lab in New York.

In 2019, when he made similar statements again — when he said there was a link between race and how intelligent you are — the lab stripped him of all titles, including chancellor emeritus, professor emeritus and honorary trustee.

The lab said, “Dr Watson’s statements are false and not supported by science.” DNA was discovered in 1869, but scientists did not know its structure at that time.

Nobel Prize was sold

Watson sold his Nobel Prize gold medal at auction in 2014 for $4.8 million (about 3.6 million pounds). He had said that he was selling this medal because he was feeling isolated from the scientific community after his statements on race.

A Russian billionaire bought the medal for $4.8 million and immediately returned it to Watson.

Research was done in Cambridge

Watson was born in Chicago in April 1928. His parents, Jean and James, were descendants of settlers from England, Scotland and Ireland. At the age of 15, he won a scholarship to study at the University of Chicago. To continue research on the structure of DNA, he went to Cambridge, where he met Francis Crick. Together they started preparing large models of possible structures of DNA.

In 1968, Watson took charge of New York State’s Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory—an older institution. Under his leadership it became one of the most prominent scientific research centers in the world.