He had simply turned 34 when his title appeared on one of science’s most prestigious lists: the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Since then, he has gone down in historical past as one of the key researchers of the twentieth century, each for the discovery of the construction of DNA and for his management of the Human Genome Project (1988-1992). This week, at the age of 97, the American biophysicist James D. Watson handed away in a New York medical heart from undisclosed causes, as confirmed by his son. New York TimesWatson, who was born on April 6, 1928, in Chicago, was a gifted baby. He entered the University of Chicago at age 15 in a program for exceptionally proficient college students and studied zoology. He later earned a doctorate in genetics from Indiana University, and in 1951 moved to the United Kingdom to work at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, the place he met the British biologist and college professor Francis Crick. It was at the moment and in that laboratory that the collaboration started which led them each to decode DNA, the genetic blueprint of life. Just two years after becoming a member of forces, Crick and Watson revealed an article in the journal Nature proposing that deoxyribonucleic acid has a double helix construction. That is, it’s shaped by two chains that coil round a typical axis, forming a twisted ladder. This discovery was a basic milestone in molecular biology, because it proposed for the first time how genetic info is copied and transmitted from one technology to the subsequent. The Nobel Prize committee in Medicine acknowledged the two researchers for this discovery in 1962 “for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and their significance for the transfer of information in living matter.” A controversial legacy
Throughout his life, Watson was a member of the college at Harvard University (1956-1976) and spearheaded the molecular biology program there. In reality, he fully overhauled the curriculum to incorporate DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis. Simultaneously, in 1968, he was appointed director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and reworked this small analysis heart into a worldwide epicenter of genetics. His contribution to the understanding of genetic materials marked a turning level in trendy biology, however his profession was additionally marred by controversies and contentious remarks. As a professor, he was feared for his direct and aggressive fashion, and his character was as good because it was provocative. In his later years, Watson made controversial statements towards gender, homophobic remarks, and racist feedback that drew virtually common condemnation from the tutorial world.
For instance, in 2019 he claimed that “there is an average difference between whites and blacks on IQ tests” and that this distinction is “genetic.” As a end result of this scandal, he misplaced a number of honorary levels, and the scientific group was fast to make clear that the variations between human teams on a genetic scale are minimal, since greater than 99.9% of the genome is shared by all human beings, and that mental efficiency is rather more associated to social, financial, and academic components.
In 2014, Watson stunned the world when he auctioned his Nobel medal for $4.1 million, making him the first residing laureate to take action. He donated half of the cash to scientific establishments. Five years later, he suffered a automobile accident that prompted mind accidents, and he withdrew fully from public life.