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James Watson, an American molecular biologist, is celebrated as one of the key figures in one of the 20th century's most significant scientific breakthroughs: the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. This achievement, which has since become the foundation for modern biology and genetics, earned him, along with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Born in Chicago in 1928, Watson was a prodigy who entered the University of Chicago at age 15. His scientific journey eventually led him to the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University in England, where he began collaborating with Francis Crick in 1951. Their work culminated in the publication of their groundbreaking model for DNA's structure in the journal Nature in April 1953. Their model proposed a twisted ladder, or double helix, structure for deoxyribonucleic acid, explaining how genetic information could be stored and copied.
The discovery, however, was not without controversy. The scientists' model relied heavily on the unpublished work of Rosalind Franklin, a chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose famous “Photograph 51” provided critical evidence for the helical structure. Watson and Crick accessed her data, shared by her colleague Maurice Wilkins, without her explicit permission, an ethical oversight that has been widely debated for decades. Franklin died of ovarian cancer in 1958 and was not recognized by the Nobel committee, as the prize is not awarded posthumously.
Following his Nobel win, Watson had a distinguished career, including a long tenure at Harvard University and as director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), where he helped launch the Human Genome Project. However, his later years have been marred by a series of inflammatory and scientifically unsupported public comments on topics such as race, intelligence, and gender. These remarks led to widespread condemnation from the scientific community. In 2019, CSHL severed its remaining ties with him, stripping him of his honorary titles. This added another layer to the complex legacy of a man whose immeasurable scientific contributions exist alongside a history of divisive and offensive public statements.
