Pioneering molecular biologist and geneticist James Watson has passed away at the age of 97.
When Watson was in his 20s, he helped ignite a revolution in biology by correctly postulating the structure of DNA, revealed in a 1953 Nature paper, co-authored with Francis Crick, titled “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid.”
Crick and Watson’s determination of the structure of the DNA molecule relied upon X-ray images obtained by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins (Crick, Watson, & Wilkins were recognized with a 1960 Lasker Basic Medical Research Award; Franklin passed away in 1958).
In 1956, Watson moved from Cambridge University to Harvard, where he helped demonstrate the existence of mRNA, in parallel with a Cambridge group led by Sydney Brenner. Watson’s laboratory also discovered key bacterial proteins that control gene expression and contributed to understanding how mRNA is translated into proteins. In 1965, Watson published the classic textbook Molecular Biology of the Gene, currently in its 7th edition.
From 1968 to 1993, Watson served as Director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. From 1990 to 1992, he led the Human Genome Project, providing impetus to a massive multinational effort that culminated with the 2003 publication of the first human genome (a half century after the determination of the structure of DNA).
Reflecting upon his career in an interview from 2000 with the journalist Richard Cohen (see below), Watson said that the greatest thrill of making a discovery “is telling someone else who can appreciate what you have done.”
