Science – James D. Watson, the American molecular biologist whose discovery of the DNA double helix in 1953 revolutionized modern science and medicine, has passed away at the age of 97, according to a statement from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, his longtime research institution.
Watson’s identification of the twisted-ladder structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), made when he was just 24 years old, marked one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century. The finding, made in collaboration with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, revealed how genetic information is stored and replicated, laying the foundation for modern genetics, biotechnology, and forensic science.
Their 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine honored that discovery, which revolutionized not only biology but also medicine, genealogy, and criminal investigation. The now-famous double helix—a pair of intertwined strands that unzip to copy themselves, became an enduring symbol of science, appearing in everything from Salvador Dalí’s art to postage stamps.
Yet Watson’s brilliance was later overshadowed by controversy. In his later years, he drew widespread condemnation for repeatedly making racist and offensive statements, most infamously claiming that Black people were “less intelligent” than white people. Despite issuing an apology, the remarks cost him his honorary positions at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, which denounced his comments as “reprehensible” and “unsupported by science.”
Born in Chicago on April 6, 1928, Watson was a precocious child with an early fascination for reading and nature. He entered the University of Chicago at 15, graduated at 19, and earned his Ph.D. in zoology from Indiana University by 22. A chance encounter with an X-ray image of DNA at a scientific conference in Italy redirected his career from ornithology to genetics, setting him on the path to one of history’s greatest scientific discoveries.
At Cambridge University in England, Watson met Francis Crick in 1951. Together, using X-ray data from Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling, whose crucial contributions were long underappreciated, they constructed a model of DNA that revealed its now-iconic spiral shape. Watson later admitted that when he saw the model come together, his first reaction was simple awe: “It’s so beautiful.”
Watson chronicled this scientific journey in his 1968 memoir The Double Helix, a candid and controversial account that mixed intellectual triumph with personal friction. Despite criticism, particularly for his unflattering portrayal of Franklin, the book became a bestseller and remains a classic of scientific literature.
In later decades, Watson helped found Harvard University’s molecular biology program and transformed Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island into a world-renowned center for genetic and cancer research. As a scientific administrator, he played a key role in launching the Human Genome Project in 1988, guiding the early phase of the historic effort to map all human genes.
Watson’s advocacy for the project was also personal: his son Rufus had been hospitalized with symptoms of schizophrenia, and Watson believed genetic research could someday illuminate such mental disorders.
Still, his career was repeatedly marred by public controversies. In addition to his remarks on race, Watson suggested in a 2000 speech that sexual desire was linked to skin color and once stated that parents should have the right to abort a fetus if a “gay gene” were discovered. His comments alienated many in the scientific community, including Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, who called Watson’s remarks “profoundly misguided and deeply hurtful.”
Despite his fall from grace, Watson’s influence on science is indelible. His work ushered in gene therapy, DNA fingerprinting, ancestry tracing, and ethical debates about human genetic engineering. He once reflected, “Francis Crick and I discovered the century, that was pretty clear. But there was no way we could have foreseen the explosive impact of the double helix on science and society.”
Even in his final years, Watson’s fame endured. He appeared in advertisements, was recognized by generations of young scientists, and auctioned his Nobel Prize medal in 2014 for $4.7 million, the highest price ever paid for a Nobel at the time. The medal was later returned to him by the anonymous buyer.
Asked late in life if any building bore his name, Watson reportedly replied, “I don’t need a building named after me. I have the double helix.”
Though his later years were marred by controversy, the world will forever remember James D. Watson as one of the men who unlocked the code of life, an achievement that reshaped our understanding of who we are and how life itself is written.
By The Midtown Times Editorial Board | Source: Original reporting by The Associated Press
