James D. Watson, co-discoverer of DNA’s double helix shape, dead at 97 | Science | News
James D. Watson, who ignited a revolution in medicine, crime fighting, genealogy and ethics by discovering the twisted ladder structure of DNA in 1953, has passed away. He was 97 years old.
This breakthrough, made when the enterprising Chicago-born Watson was just 24 years old, made him a sacred figure in the world of science for decades. But towards the end of his life, he faced condemnation and professional censorship for offensive remarks, including saying that black people were less intelligent than whites.
Watson shared the 1962 Nobel Prize with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins for the discovery that deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is a double helix, consisting of two strands that wind around each other to form something that resembles a long, gently spiraling staircase.
This awareness was a turning point. It immediately revealed how hereditary information is stored and how cells copy their DNA as they divide. The replication process begins when two strands of DNA separate from each other, like a zipper.
The double helix would become an instantly recognizable symbol of science, even among non-scientists, appearing in works such as the works of Salvador Dalí and on a British postage stamp.
The discovery helped open the door to newer advances such as altering the genetic structure of living things, treating diseases by inserting genes into patients, identifying human remains and criminal suspects from DNA samples, and tracing family trees. However, it also raised a number of ethical questions, such as whether we should alter the body’s blueprint for cosmetic reasons or to be passed on to a person’s child.
“Francis Crick and I made the discovery of the century, that was pretty obvious,” Watson once said. “We had no way of foreseeing the explosive impact of the double helix on science and society,” he later wrote.
Watson never managed to find such a large laboratory. But in the years that followed, he wrote influential textbooks and a best-selling memoir, and guided the project to map the human genome. He selected bright young scientists and helped them. He used his prestige and connections to influence science policy.
Watson died in hospice care after a brief illness, his son said Friday. His former research laboratory confirmed that he passed away the day before.
“He never stopped fighting for people suffering from disease,” Duncan Watson said of his father.
Watson’s initial motivation for supporting the gene project was personal: His son Rufus had been hospitalized with a possible diagnosis of schizophrenia, and Watson thought knowing the full structure of DNA would be crucial to understanding this disease; Maybe in time he could help his son.
He attracted unwelcome attention in 2007 when London’s Sunday Times Magazine quoted him as saying that he was “inherently pessimistic about Africa’s future” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – which not all tests actually are.” He said he hopes everyone is equal, but “people who have to deal with black employees don’t think it’s right.”
