DNA pioneer James Watson dies at 97

American scientist James Watson, Nobel Prize winner and one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA, has died at the age of 97.

In one of the greatest advances of the 20th century, he identified the double helix structure of DNA in 1953 alongside a British scientist, Francis Crick, paving the way for rapid advances in molecular biology.

But his reputation and reputation have been seriously affected by his comments on race and gender. On a television show, he referenced a controversial view that genes cause differences between blacks and whites on IQ tests.

Watson’s death was confirmed to the BBC by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he worked and researched for decades.

Watson shared the Nobel Prize in 1962 with Maurice Wilkins and Crick for the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA.

“We have discovered the secret of life,” they said at the time.

His later comments on race led him to say that he felt ostracized by the scientific community.

In 2007, the scientist, who worked at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, told the Times newspaper that he was “inherently gloomy about Africa’s prospects” because “all our social policies are based on their intelligence being the same as ours – when all the tests say that’s not really the case.”

These comments caused him to lose his job as chancellor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.

His additional comments in 2019 – when he once again suggested a link between race and intelligence – led the lab to withdraw his honorary titles of chancellor emeritus, Oliver R Grace professor emeritus and honorary trustee.

“Dr. Watson’s statements are reprehensible and not supported by science,” the laboratory said in a statement.

DNA was discovered in 1869, but researchers had not yet discovered its structure, and it was not until 1943 that scientists realized that DNA made up the genetic material of cells.

Working with images obtained by Rosalind Franklin, a researcher at King’s College, without her knowledge, Crick and Watson were able to construct a physical model of the molecule.

Watson sold his Nobel gold medal at auction for $4.8 million (£3.6 million) in 2014, saying he was giving up the medal because he felt ostracized by the scientific community after his remarks on race.

A Russian billionaire bought it for $4.8 million and immediately returned it to him.

Watson was born in Chicago in April 1928 to Jean and James, descendants of English, Scottish and Irish settlers.

He won a scholarship to study at the University of Chicago when he was 15.

There he became interested in the new technique of diffraction, in which X-rays were reflected from atoms to reveal their internal structures.

To continue his research into the structures of DNA, he traveled to Cambridge, where he met Crick, with whom he began building large-scale models of possible structures for DNA.

Later, after his scientific discovery, Watson and his wife Elizabeth moved to Harvard, where he became a professor of biology. The couple had two sons, one of whom suffered from schizophrenia.

In 1968, he took over the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York State, an old institution that he is credited with transforming into one of the most important scientific research institutes in the world.