James Watson

For other people named James Watson, see James Watson (disambiguation).

James Watson
James D. Watson
Born	(1928-04-06) April 6, 1928
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Chicago, Indiana University
Known for	DNA structure, Molecular biology,
Awards	Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1962); Copley Medal (1993)
Scientific career
Fields	Genetics
Institutions	Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; Harvard University; University of Cambridge; National Institutes of Health

James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biologist and zoologist, best known as one of co-discoverers of the structure of DNA with Francis Crick, in 1953. Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the 1962 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". He studied at the University of Chicago and Indiana University and subsequently worked at the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory in England where he first met his future collaborator and personal friend Francis Crick.

In 1956, Watson became a junior member of Harvard University's Biological Laboratories until 1976, promoting research in molecular biology and from 1968 he served as director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) on Long Island, New York, greatly expanding its level of funding and research. At CSHL, he shifted his research emphasis to the study of cancer. In 1994, he became its president for ten years, and then subsequently he served as its chancellor until 2007, when he resigned, due to a controversy over comments he made claiming African-Americans are less intelligent than whites during an interview with a trusted friend that made it into the press.

Between 1988 and 1992, Watson was associated with the National Institutes of Health, helping to establish the Human Genome Project. Watson has written many science books, including the seminal textbook The Molecular Biology of the Gene (1965) and his bestselling book The Double Helix (1968) about the DNA structure discovery.

Early life and education

James Dewey Watson was born in Chicago, Ill., on April 6th, 1928, as the only son of James D. Watson, a businessman, and Jean Mitchell. His father was of Scottish descent (both Dewey and Watson being Scottish surnames). His mother's father Lauchlin Mitchell, a tailor, was from Glasgow, Scotland, and her mother, Lizzie Gleason, was the child of Irish parents from Tipperary. Watson was fascinated with bird watching, a hobby he shared with his father. Watson appeared on Quiz Kids, a popular radio show that challenged precocious youngsters to answer questions. Thanks to the liberal policy of University president Robert Hutchins, he enrolled at the University of Chicago at the age of 15.

After reading Erwin Schrödinger's book What Is Life? in 1946, Watson changed his professional ambitions from the study of ornithology to genetics. Watson earned his B.S. degree in Zoology from the University of Chicago in 1947. In his autobiography, Avoid Boring People, Watson describes the University of Chicago as an idyllic academic institution where he was instilled with the capacity for critical thought and an ethical compulsion not to suffer fools who impeded his search for truth, in contrast to his description of later experiences. Watson attended Indiana University from 1947 to 1950 as a graduate student. He received his Ph.D. from IU in 1950.

Career in molecular biology

Watson was attracted to the work of Salvador Luria. Luria eventually shared a Nobel Prize for his work on the Luria-Delbrück experiment, which concerned the nature of genetic mutations. Luria was part of a distributed group of researchers who were making use of the viruses that infect bacteria, called bacteriophages. Luria and Max Delbrück were among the leaders of this new "Phage Group," an important movement of geneticists from experimental systems such as Drosophila towards microbial genetics. Early in 1948, Watson began his Ph.D. research in Luria's laboratory at Indiana University, and that spring he got to meet Delbrück in Luria's apartment and again that summer during Watson's first trip to the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL).

The Phage Group was the intellectual medium within which Watson became a working scientist. Importantly, the members of the Phage Group had a sense that they were on the path to discovering the physical nature of the gene. In 1949 Watson took a course with Felix Haurowitz that included the conventional view of that time: that proteins were genes and able to replicate themselves. The other major molecular component of chromosomes, DNA, was thought by many to be a "stupid tetranucleotide", serving only a structural role to support the proteins. However, even at this early time, Watson, under the influence of the Phage Group, was aware of the Avery-MacLeod-McCarty experiment, which suggested that DNA was the genetic molecule. Watson's research project involved using X-rays to inactivate bacterial viruses. He gained his Ph.D. in Zoology at Indiana University in 1950 (at age 22).

Watson then went to Copenhagen University in September 1950 for a year of postdoctoral research, first heading to the laboratory of biochemist Herman Kalckar. Kalckar was interested in the enzymatic synthesis of nucleic acids, and he wanted to use phages as an experimental system. Watson, however, wanted to explore the structure of DNA, and his interests did not coincide with Kalckar's. After working part of the year with Kalcker, Watson spent the remainder of his time in Copenhagen conducting experiments with microbial physiologist Ole Maaloe, then a member of the Phage Group.

The experiments, which Watson had learned of during the previous summer's Cold Spring Harbor phage conference, included the use of radioactive phosphate as a tracer to determine which molecular components of phage particles actually infect the target bacteria during viral infection. The intention was to determine whether protein or DNA was the genetic material, but upon consultation with Max Delbrück, they determined that their results were inconclusive and could not specifically identify the newly labeled molecules as DNA. Watson never developed a constructive interaction with Kalckar, but he did accompany Kalckar to a meeting in Italy where Watson saw Maurice Wilkins talk about his X-ray diffraction data for DNA. Watson was now certain that DNA had a definite molecular structure that could be elucidated.

In 1951, the chemist Linus Pauling in California published his model of the amino acid alpha helix, a result that grew out of Pauling's efforts in X-ray crystallography and molecular model building. Watson found out about Pauling's model quickly because it was communicated to him via Pauling's son, Peter Pauling, who had a copy of the manuscript. Watson claimed that such a model (with three central phosphate chains held together by hydrogen bonds) was easily recognized as incorrect because in an aqueous environment the phosphate groups would be ionized thus would not display hydrogen bonding and would repel each other. After obtaining some results from his phage and other experimental research conducted at Indiana University, Statens seruminstitute (Denmark), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and the California Institute of Technology, Watson now had the desire to learn to perform X-ray diffraction experiments so that he could work to determine the structure of DNA. That summer, Luria met John Kendrew, and he arranged for a new postdoctoral research project for Watson in England.

Double Helix

Watson and Crick proceeded to deduce the double helix structure of DNA. Sir Lawrence Bragg, the director of the Cavendish Laboratory, where Watson and Crick worked, made the original announcement of the discovery at a Solvay conference on proteins in Belgium on April 8, 1953, went unreported by the press. Watson and Crick submitted a paper to the scientific journal Nature, which was published on April 25, 1953. This has been described by some other biologists and Nobel laureates as the most important scientific discovery of the 20th century. Bragg gave a talk at the Guys Hospital Medical School in London on Thursday, May 14, 1953, which resulted in an article by Ritchie Calder in the newspaper The News Chronicle of London, on Friday, May 15, 1953, entitled "Why You Are You. Nearer Secret of Life." The news reached readers of The New York Times the next day. Victor K. McElheny, in researching his biography, "Watson and DNA: Making a Scientific Revolution", found a clipping of a six-paragraph New York Times article written from London and dated May 16, 1953, with the headline "Form of 'Life Unit' in Cell Is Scanned." The article ran in an early edition and was then pulled to make space for news deemed more important.(The New York Times subsequently ran a longer article on June 12, 1953). The Cambridge University undergraduate newspaper Varsity also ran its own short article on the discovery on Saturday, May 30, 1953. Watson subsequently presented a paper on the double helical structure of DNA at the 18th Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on Viruses in early June 1953, six weeks after the publication of the Watson & Crick paper in Nature. Many at the meeting had not yet heard of the discovery. The 1953 Cold Harbor Symposium was the first opportunity for many to see the model of the DNA Double Helix. Watson claimed that he was refused a $1,000 raise in salary after winning the Nobel Prize. Watson, Crick, and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 for their research on the structure of nucleic acids.

Watson's accomplishment displayed on the monument at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Because the monument memorializes only American Laureates, Crick is not mentioned.

At Harvard University, starting in 1956, Watson achieved a series of academic promotions from Assistant Professor, to Associate Professor to full Professor of Biology. He championed a switch in focus for the school from classical biology to molecular biology, stating that disciplines such as ecology, developmental biology, taxonomy, physiology, etc. had stagnated and could only progress once the underlying disciplines of molecular biology and biochemistry had elucidated their underpinnings, going so far as to discourage their study by students. He left the school in 1976.

In 1968, Watson became the Director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Between 1970 and 1972, the Watsons' two sons were born, and by 1974 the young family made Cold Springs Harbor their permanent residence. Watson served as the Laboratory's Director and president for about 35 years, and later he assumed the role of Chancellor. In October 2007, Watson resigned as a result of controversial remark about race made to the press. Watson has one son who has schizophrenia. In a retrospective summary of his accomplishments there, Bruce Stillman, the laboratory's president said, "Jim Watson created a research environment that is unparalleled in the world of science." It was "under his direction [that the Lab has] made major contributions to understanding the genetic basis of cancer."

Generally in his roles as Director, President, and Chancellor, Watson led CSHL to its present day mission, which is "dedicat[ion] to exploring molecular biology and genetics in order to advance the understanding and ability to diagnose and treat cancers, neurological diseases, and other causes of human suffering." In October, 2007, Watson was suspended following criticism of views on race and intelligence attributed to him, and a week later, on the 25th, he retired at the age of 79 from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory from what the lab called "nearly 40 years of distinguished service", In a statement, Watson attributed his retirement to his age, and circumstances that he could never have anticipated or desired.

In January 2007, Watson accepted the invitation of Leonor Beleza, president of the Champalimaud Foundation, to become the head of the foundation's scientific council, an advisory organ. He will be in charge of selecting the remaining council members.

Watson was also a former advisor for the Allen Institute for Brain Science . The Allen Institute, located in Seattle, Washington, was founded in 2003 by Philanthropists Paul G. Allen and Jody Allen as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation medical research organization. A multidisciplinary group of neuroscientists, molecular biologists, informaticists, engineers, mathematicians, statisticians, and computational biologists were brought together to form the scientific core of the Allen Institute. Utilizing the mouse model system, these fields have joined together to investigate expression of 20,000 genes in the adult mouse brain and to map gene expression to a cellular level beyond neuroanatomic boundaries. The data generated from this joint effort is contained in the publicly available Allen Mouse Brain Atlas application located at www.brain-map.org. Upon completion of the Allen Mouse Brain Atlas, this consortium of scientists will pursue additional questions to further our understanding of neuronal circuitry and the neuroanatomic framework that defines the functionality of the brain.

Book: The Double Helix

DNA model built by Crick and Watson in 1953, on display in the Science Museum (London).

In 1968, Watson wrote The Double Helix, one of the Modern Library's 100 best non-fiction books. The account is the sometimes painful story of not only the discovery of the structure of DNA, but the personalities, conflicts and controversy surrounding their work. Watson's original title was to have been "Honest Jim," in that the book recounts the discovery of the double helix from his point of view and included many of his private emotional impressions at the time. The book changed the way the public viewed scientists and the way they work.

Some controversy attended the publication of the book. Watson's book was originally to be published by the Harvard University Press, but after objections from both Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, among others, Watson's home university where he had been a member of the biology faculty since 1955, dropped the publication of the book, and it was instead published by a commercial publisher.

In the same way, Watson's first textbook, The Molecular Biology of the Gene, set a new standard for textbooks, particularly through the use of concept heads—brief declarative subheadings. Its style has been emulated by almost all successive textbooks. His next great success was Molecular Biology of the Cell, although here his role was more that of coordinator of an outstanding group of scientist-writers. His third textbook was Recombinant DNA, which used the ways in which genetic engineering has brought much new information about how organisms function. The textbooks are still in print.

Human genome project

In 1990, Watson's achievement and the success led to his appointment as the Head of the Human Genome Project at the National Institutes of Health, a position he held until April 10, 1992. Watson left the Genome Project after conflicts with the new NIH Director, Bernadine Healy. Watson was opposed to Healy's attempts to acquire patents on gene sequences, and any ownership of the "laws of nature." Two years before stepping down from the Genome Project, he had stated his own opinion on this long and ongoing controversy which he saw as an illogical barrier to research; he said, "The nations of the world must see that the human genome belongs to the world's people, as opposed to its nations." He left within weeks of the 1992 announcement that the NIH would be applying for patents on brain-specific cDNAs.

In 1994, Watson became President of CSHL. Francis Collins took over the role as Director of the Human Genome Project.

In 2007, James Watson became the second person 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 Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine. "'I am putting my genome sequence on line to encourage the development of an era of personalized medicine, in which information contained in our genomes can be used to identify and prevent disease and to create individualized medical therapies,' said CSHL Chancellor Watson."

Awards and decorations

Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Sciences Charles A. Dana Award Copley Medal of the Royal Society Eli Lilly Award in Biochemistry Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences Gairdner Award Heald Award Honorary Knight Commander in the Order of the British Empire K.B.E. (Hon.) John Collins Warren Prize of the Massachusetts General Hospital John J. Carty Gold Medal of the National Academy of Sciences Kaul Foundation Award for Excellence Liberty Medal

Lomonosov Medal Lotos Club Medal of Merit Mendel Medal National Biotechnology Venture Award National Medal of Science New York Academy of Medicine Award Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Othmer Medal Presidential Medal of Freedom Research Corporation Prize University of Chicago Alumni Medal University College London Prize University Medal at SUNY Stony Brook

On Saturday, October 20, 1962 the award of Nobel prizes to John Kendrew and Max Perutz, and to Crick, Watson, and Wilkins was satirised in a short sketch in the BBC TV programme That Was The Week That Was with the Nobel Prizes being referred to as 'The Alfred Nobel Peace Pools'; in this sketch Watson was called "Little J.D. Watson" and "Who'd have thought he'd ever get the Nobel Prize? Makes you think, doesn't it".

Honorary degrees received

D.Sc., University of Chicago, 1961 D.Sc., Indiana University, 1963 L.L.D., Notre Dame University, 1965 D.Sc., Long Island University (C.W. Post), 1970 D.Sc., Adelphi University, 1972 D.Sc., Brandeis University, 1973 D.Sc., Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1974 D.Sc., Hofstra University, 1976 D.Sc., Harvard University, 1978

D.Sc., Rockefeller University, 1980 D.Sc., Clarkson College, 1981 D.Sc., SUNY at Farmingdale, 1983 M.D., Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1986 D.Sc., Rutgers University, 1988 D.Sc., Bard College, 1991 D.Sc., University of Stellenbosch, S. Africa, 1993 D.Sc., Fairfield University, 1993 D.Sc., University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1993 Dr.h.c., Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, 1998

Professional and honorary affiliations

American Academy of Arts and Sciences American Association for Cancer Research American Philosophical Society American Society of Biological Chemists Atheneum (London) Cambridge University (Honorary Fellow, Clare College)

Danish Academy of Arts and Sciences National Academy of Sciences Oxford University (Newton-Abraham Visiting Professor) Presidential Medal of Freedom Royal Society (London) Russian Academy of Sciences

Political activism

During his tenure as a professor at Harvard, Watson participated in several political protests:

• Vietnam War: While a professor at Harvard University, Watson, along with "12 Faculty members of the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology" including one other Nobel prize winner, spearheaded a resolution for "the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces' from Vietnam."

• Nuclear proliferation and environmentalism: In 1975, on the "thirtieth anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima," Watson along with "over 2000 scientists and engineers" spoke out against nuclear proliferation to President Ford in part because of the "lack of a proven method for the ultimate disposal of radioactive waste" and because "The writers of the declaration see the proliferation of nuclear plants as a major threat to American liberties and international safety because they say safeguard procedures are inadequate to prevent terrorist theft of commercial reactor-produced plutonium."

Controversies

James Watson (February, 2003)

Comments

Watson has often expressed provocative concepts and disapproving opinion of others seemingly within the realm of genetic research.

• Watson has repeatedly supported genetic screening and genetic engineering in public lectures and interviews, arguing that stupidity is a disease and the "really stupid" bottom 10% of people should be cured. He has also suggested that beauty could be genetically engineered, saying "People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty. I think it would be great."

• He has been quoted in The Sunday Telegraph as stating: "If you could find the gene which determines sexuality and a woman decides she doesn't want a homosexual child, well, let her." The biologist Richard Dawkins wrote a letter to The Independent claiming that Watson's position was misrepresented by The Sunday Telegraph article, and that Watson would equally consider the possibility of having a heterosexual child to be just as valid as any other reason for abortion, to emphasise that Watson is in favor of allowing choice.

• On the issue of obesity, Watson has also been quoted as saying: "Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you're not going to hire them."

• Watson also had quite a few disagreements with Craig Venter regarding his use of EST fragments while Venter worked at NIH. Venter went on to found Celera genomics and continued his feud with Watson. Watson was even quoted as calling Venter "Hitler."

• While speaking at a conference in 2000, Watson had suggested a link between skin color and sex drive, hypothesizing that dark-skinned people have stronger libidos. His lecture, complete with slides of bikini-clad women, argued that extracts of melanin — which gives skin its color — had been found to boost subjects' sex drive. "That's why you have Latin lovers," he said, according to people who attended the lecture. "You've never heard of an English lover. Only an English patient."

• On October 25, 2007, Watson was compelled to retire as chancellor of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on New York's Long Island and from its board of directors, after Watson had been quoted in The Times the previous week as saying "[I am] inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa [because] all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours—whereas all the testing says not really."

Use of King's College results

An enduring controversy has been generated by Watson and Crick's use of DNA X-ray diffraction data collected by Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling. The controversy arose from the fact that some of Franklin's unpublished data was used by Watson and Crick in their construction of the double helix model of DNA. Franklin's experimental results provided estimates of the water content of DNA crystals and these results were consistent with the two sugar-phosphate backbones being on the outside of the molecule. Franklin personally told Crick and Watson that the backbones had to be on the outside. Her identification of the space group for DNA crystals revealed to Crick that the two DNA strands were antiparallel. The X-ray diffraction images collected by Gosling and Franklin provided the best evidence for the helical nature of DNA. Franklin's experimental work thus proved crucial in Watson and Crick's discovery. Watson and Crick had three sources for Franklin's unpublished data: 1) her 1951 seminar, attended by Watson, 2) discussions with Wilkins, who worked in the same laboratory with Franklin, 3) a research progress report that was intended to promote coordination of Medical Research Council-supported laboratories. Watson, Crick, Wilkins and Franklin all worked in MRC laboratories.

Prior to publication of the double helix structure, Watson and Crick had little interaction with Franklin. Crick and Watson felt that they had benefited from collaborating with Wilkins. They offered him a co-authorship on the article that first described the double helix structure of DNA. Wilkins turned down the offer, a fact that may have led to the terse character of the acknowledgment of experimental work done at King's College in the eventual published paper. Rather than make any of the DNA researchers at King's College co-authors on the Watson and Crick double helix article, the solution that was arrived at was to publish two additional papers from King's College along with the helix paper. Biographer Brenda Maddox suggested that because of the importance of her work to Watson and Crick's model building, Franklin should have had her name on the original Watson and Crick manuscript. Franklin may have never known the extent to which her unpublished data had helped in the double helix discovery. According to one critic, unprotected by libel laws, Watson's portrayal of Franklin in The Double Helix was negative, giving the appearance that she was Wilkins' assistant and was unable to interpret her own DNA data.

In his book The Double Helix, Watson described being intimidated by Franklin and that they were unable to establish constructive scientific interactions during the time period when Franklin was doing DNA research. In the book's epilogue, written after Franklin's death, Watson acknowledges his early impressions of Franklin were often wrong, that she faced enormous barriers as a woman in the field of science even though her work was superb, and that it took years to overcome their bickering before appreciating Franklin's generosity and integrity.

A review of the handwritten correspondence from Franklin to Watson, located in the archives at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, reveals that the two scientists later had exchanges of constructive scientific correspondence. In fact, Franklin consulted with Watson on her Tobacco Mosaic Virus RNA research. Franklin's letters begin on friendly terms with "Dear Jim", and conclude with equally benevolent and respectful sentiments like "Best Wishes, Yours, Rosalind". Each of the scientists published their own unique contributions to the discovery of the structure of DNA in separate articles, and all of the contributors published their findings in the same volume of Nature. These classic molecular biology papers are identified as: Watson J.D. and Crick F.H.C. "A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid" Nature 171, 737-738 (1953), Wilkins M.H.F., Stokes A.R. & Wilson, H.R. "Molecular Structure of Deoxypentose Nucleic Acids" Nature 171, 738-740 (1953), Franklin R. and Gosling R.G. "Molecular Configuration in Sodium Thymonucleate" Nature 171, 740-741 (1953). Franklin did not receive a Nobel Prize for her important contribution because the Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously.

The wording on the DNA sculpture (which was donated by Watson) outside Clare College's Memorial Court, Cambridge, England is:

On the base:

• "These strands unravel during cell reproduction. Genes are encoded in the sequence of bases."
• "The double helix model was supported by the work of Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins."

On the helices:

• "The structure of DNA was discovered in 1953 by Francis Crick and James Watson while Watson lived here at Clare."
• "The molecule of DNA has two helical strands that are linked by base pairs Adenine - Thymine or Guanine - Cytosine."

Avoid Boring People, UK book tour

Watson signing autographs after a speech at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on April 30, 2007.

Watson, in his memoir, Avoid Boring People: Lessons from a Life in Science, describes his academic colleagues as "dinosaurs," "deadbeats," "fossils," "has-beens," "mediocre," and "vapid." The Harvard review of the book was critical, where each chapter is in the form of "Manners...", covering how Watson felt that social skills and manners can play an important role in different facets of a scientist's success when the reviewer felt that Watson had often displayed a lack of manners in his career there. While E. O. Wilson once described him as "the most unpleasant human being I had ever met", in a December 2006 TV interview he deemed their rivalry at Harvard (about the expanding funding for molecular biology at the reduction of organismic biology) to be old history and that they were friends.

In early October 2007, Watson was about to embark on a UK book tour for his memoir. He was interviewed by Charlotte Hunt-Grubbe at CSHL, who had been part of an unusual 1996 program Watson had at CSHL where he sought a young male and female student to live at his family home and work as CSHL for a year. Hunt-Grubbe did not remain an active researcher and was working for the Sunday Times Magazine and was selected to do the interview with Watson because she had been one of the few females in the world to have been mentored by him. Hunt-Grubbe did not work directly for him at the laboratory.

After a long day of recording their conversation, Hunt-Grubbe broached the subject of race and intelligence. In his book, Watson does not directly mention race as a factor in his hypothesized divergence of intellect between geographically isolated populations. In the interview, Watson then made several statements to the effect that if statistics showed that Black people had measurably lower IQ scores, then that, plus anecdotal experience provided a basis to not hire unqualified people even if they are disadvantaged or minorities (see wikiquote entry for the full paragraph). Hunt-Grubbe wrote the article with several such quotes and Sunday Times deputy editor Cathy Galvin saw fit to run the article with a headline and sub-headline designed to draw attention to Watson's controversial comments. The article was a public relations disaster for Watson and when they had time to evaluate the backlash towards him, Hunt-Grubbe was horrified by the response while Galvin was pleased and mentioned the "unscientific territory of his opinions and history of statements about women, race, and abortion". The article was published on October 14, 2007 and immediately led to criticism of Watson in the UK. His direct quotes drew attention and criticism from the media. Watson defended himself at his next book appearance that his intention is in promotion of science and not racism, but some of the prestigious UK venues on his schedule canceled his appearances, and Watson then canceled the rest of his tour.

On October 18 the Board of Trustees at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory suspended Watson's administrative responsibilities. On October 19, Watson issued an apology, stating that he was mortified and then on October 25 he opted to resign from his position as chancellor.

Some periodicals offered opinions on the matter. On December 9, 2007, a Sunday Times article reported a claim by deCODE Genetics that 16% of Watson's DNA is of African origin and 9% is of Asian origin. deCODE's methods were not reported and details of the analysis were not published. According to deCODE's Kari Stefansson, the analysis relied on an error-ridden version of Watson's full genome sequence, and Stefansson "doubts [. . .] whether the 16 percent figure will hold up"

In 2008 Watson was interviewed by Henry Louis Gates regarding his views on race, intelligence, and other controversial subjects and Gates assessed him to be a racialist rather than a racist. In 2008, Watson was appointed chancellor emeritus of CSHL and, as of 2009, continues his daily activities advising and guiding project work at the laboratory. In a 2008 BBC documentary, Watson said about the incident: "I have never thought of myself as a racist. I don't see myself as a racist. I am mortified by it. It was the worst thing in my life."

Personal life

Watson married Elizabeth Lewis in 1968. They have two sons, Rufus Robert Watson (b. 1970) and Duncan James Watson (b. 1972). Watson occasionally makes reference to his son Rufus, who suffers from schizophrenia, encouraging progress in understanding and treatment by determining by what amount mental illness might be explained by genetics. Watson is an atheist.

Selected books

• Watson, J. D. (1968) The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA. New York: Atheneum.
  • Watson, J. D. (1968). The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA. (Norton Critical Editions, 1981). Edited by Gunther S. Stent. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-95075-1
• Watson, J. D., T. A. Baker, S. P. Bell, A. Gann, M. Levine, and R. Losick, eds., (2003) Molecular Biology of the Gene. (5th edition) New York: Benjamin Cummings ISBN 0-8053-4635-X
• Watson, J. D. (2002) Genes, Girls, and Gamow: After the Double Helix. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-41283-2
• Watson, J. D. with A. Berry (2003) DNA: The Secret of Life New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-41546-7
• Watson, J.D. (2007) Avoid Boring People and Other Lessons from a Life in Science, New York, Random House, ISBN 978-0-375-41284-4, 366 pp.

See also

• Full genome sequencing
• History of molecular biology
• Predictive medicine

Further reading

• Chadarevian, S. (2002) Designs For Life: Molecular Biology After World War II. Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-521-57078-6
• Chargaff, E. (1978) Heraclitean Fire. New York: Rockefeller Press.
• Chomet, S., ed., (1994) D.N.A.: Genesis of a Discovery London: Newman-Hemisphere Press.
• Collins, Francis. (2004) Coming to Peace With Science: Bridging the Worlds Between Faith and Biology. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-8308-2742-8
• Collins, Francis. (2007) The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief Free Press. ISBN 978-1-4165-4274-2
• Crick, F.H.C. (1988) What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery (Basic Books reprint edition, 1990) ISBN 0-465-09138-5
• John Finch; 'A Nobel Fellow On Every Floor', Medical Research Council 2008, 381 pp, ISBN 978-1-84046-940-0; this book is all about the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge.
• Friedberg, E.C.; "Sydney Brenner: A Biography", CSHL Press October 2010, ISBN 0-87969-947-7.
• Friedburg, E. C. (2005) "The Writing Life of James D. Watson". "Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press" ISBN 0-87969-700-8
• Hunter, G. (2004) Light Is A Messenger: the life and science of William Lawrence Bragg. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-852921-X
• Inglis, J., Sambrook, J. & Witkowski, J. A. (eds.) Inspiring Science: Jim Watson and the Age of DNA. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. 2003. ISBN 978-0-87969-698-6.
• Judson, H. F. (1996). The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology, Expanded edition. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. ISBN 0-87969-478-5
• Maddox, B. (2003). Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA. Harper Perennial. ISBN 0-06-098508-9
• McEleheny, Victor K. (2003) Watson and DNA: Making a scientific revolution, Perseus. ISBN 0-7382-0341-6
• Robert Olby; 1974) The Path to The Double Helix: Discovery of DNA. London: MacMillan. ISBN 0-486-68117-3; Definitive DNA textbook, with foreword by Francis Crick, revised in 1994 with a 9 page postscript.
• Robert Olby; (2003) "Quiet debut for the double helix" Nature 421 (January 23): 402-405.
• Robert Olby; "Francis Crick: Hunter of Life's Secrets", Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, ISBN 978-0-87969-798-3, August 2009.
• Ridley, M. (2006) Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code (Eminent Lives) New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 0-06-082333-X.
• Wilkins, M. (2003) The Third Man of the Double Helix: The Autobiography of Maurice Wilkins. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860665-6.
• The History of the University of Cambridge: Volume 4 (1870 to 1990), Cambridge University Press, 1992.

External links

• James D. Watson Collection at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Library
• MSN Encarta biography (Archived 2009-10-31)
• DNA Interactive - This site from the Dolan DNA Learning Center (part of CSHL) commemorates the discovery of the structure of DNA and includes dozens of animations, as well as interviews with James Watson and others.
• DNA from the Beginning - another DNA Learning Center site on the basics of DNA, genes, and heredity, from Mendel to the human genome project.
• Discover "Reversing Bad Truths" - David Duncan interviews Watson. 2003-07-01
• The New York Times 50th anniversary series of articles 2003-02-25
• Template:Worldcat id
• Two rememberances of James Watson by one of the founders of molecular genetics, Esther Lederberg, can be found at http://www.estherlederberg.com/Anecdotes.html#WATSON1 and http://www.estherlederberg.com/Anecdotes.html#WATSON2

Multimedia

• BBC Four Interviews - Watson and Crick speaking on the BBC in 1962, 1972, and 1974.
• NPR Science Friday: "A Conversation with Genetics Pioneer James Watson" - Ira Flatow interviews Watson on the history of DNA and his recent book A Passion for DNA: Genes, Genomes, and Society. 2002-06-02
• NPR Science Friday "DNA: The Secret of Life" - Ira Flatow interviews Watson on his new book. 2003-05-02
• Charlie Rose "DNA: The Secret of Life" - video interview with James D. Watson. 2003-07-03
• TED profile talk in 2005