James Watson, Co-Discoverer of DNA Structure, Dies at 97
James Dewey Watson, the American molecular biologist best known for identifying the double-helix structure of DNA, has died at the age of 97. The New York Times reported that Watson passed away on Thursday in East Northport, Long Island, New York.
According to his son, Duncan Watson, he died in a hospice where he had been transferred from a hospital earlier in the week while being treated for an infection.
Scientific Legacy
Watson, together with Francis Crick, famously proposed the double-helix structure of DNA in a groundbreaking 1953 paper published in Nature.
In 1953, Watson and Crick proposed the double helix structure of the DNA molecule.
Their discovery revolutionized modern biology and genetics, explaining how genetic information is stored and transmitted within living organisms.
Award and Recognition
Nine years later, in 1962, Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries about the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its role in genetic information transfer.
In 1962, Watson, Crick, and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize “for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material.”
Life and Education
Born on April 6, 1928, in Chicago, Illinois, Watson earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and later a PhD from Indiana University Bloomington.
He completed postdoctoral research at the University of Copenhagen before moving to the University of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory in England, where he met Francis Crick. Their collaboration led to one of the most transformative discoveries in science.
Author’s Summary
James D. Watson’s groundbreaking discovery of DNA’s double helix with Francis Crick redefined biology and earned him global recognition as a key architect of molecular genetics.