James Watson, one of the discoverers of DNA, Nobel Prize laureate, has died. He was left without awards because of some scandalous claims
The researcher James Watson, winner of the Nobel Prize, collaborator in the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA and one of the fathers of the human genome project, died at the age of 97.
James Watson one of those who discovered the structure of DNA. PHOTO prowhiteparty.files.wordpres
His death was confirmed by a spokesman for the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he spent most of his career, who said the renowned molecular biologist died after a brief illness, according to CNN.
James Watson, whose mission was to discover what the molecule of life looks like, won the Nobel Prize in 1962.
Watson, along with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, is best known for discovering the double-helix structure of DNA in 1953.
“The desire to discover the truth is my heritage”
He later became the first director of the groundbreaking Human Genome Project and the first living laureate to sell a Nobel Prize, with part of the proceeds going to fund-raising for scientific research.
“I think from the beginning I wanted to do something important with my life. I still want to think about science and nothing else. The desire to discover the truth is my heritage. Sometimes the truth can't be found and it's complicated, but what you always have is that if you can start with the truth, it helps”, Watson confessed to CNN in 2013.
James Watson was left without distinctions following some statements considered reprehensible, regarding race and ethnicity
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory – CSHL, the New York institution where James Watson worked for almost four decades, announced five years ago that it had withdrawn three titles from the scientist, professor emeritus, professor emeritus “Oliver R. Grace” and honorary administrator, as a measure of the statements made by him in the mass media.
The geneticist resigned from the institution in 2007, after declaring for a British newspaper that people of African origin have lower intelligence, Aferpres reported at the time.
In a new PBS documentary titled “American Masters: Decoding Watson,” asked what his views on race were a decade after he left the New York lab, the researcher said he was not backing down from earlier views, citing differences in IQ test scores to argue for the inferiority of black people.
Although Watson also expressed the hope that everyone should be equal, he added that “those who have dealt with black employees have come to the conclusion that this is not true'”.
“Watson's statements are reprehensible, without scientific foundation, and do not in any way represent the views of CSHL, its administrators, employees, or students. The laboratory condemns the misuse of science to justify prejudice”specified, then, the laboratory.
