James Watson

Born: Chicago, Illinois, USA 1928

 James D. Watson is best known for his discovery of the structure of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), for which he shared with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. They proposed that the DNA molecule takes the shape of a double helix, an elegantly simple structure that resembles a gently twisted ladder. The rails of the ladder are made of alternating units of phosphate and the sugar deoxyribose; the rungs are each composed of a pair of nitrogen-containing nucleotides.
     This research emphasized a concept central to the emerging field of molecular biology: understanding the structure of a molecule can give clues about how it functions. Because each nucleotide within a rung of the DNA ladder is always paired with the same complementary nucleotide, one half of the molecule can serve as a template for the construction of the other half. This complementary pairing explains how identical copies of parental DNA can be passed on to two daughter cells. During cell division, the DNA helix "unzips," and two new molecules are formed from the half-ladder templates. Later research showed that the precise sequence of nucleotide rungs of the DNA ladder directs the manufacture of proteins and determines the identity of a living organism. Research on DNA-protein interactions launched a revolution in biology that led to modern recombinant DNA techniques.
     In 1968 Dr. Watson became director and in 1994 became president of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island, New York. Under his direction, this renowned but financially endangered institution was revitalized. Dr. Watson steered the Laboratory into the field of tumor virology, from which emerged our present understanding of oncogenes (cancer genes) and the molecular basis of cancer. In addition to high-level research on cancer, plant molecular biology, cell biochemistry, and neuroscience, the Laboratory functions as a postgraduate university on DNA science. Each year some 5,000 scientists from around the world are drawn to more than 52 professional meetings and advanced courses held at Cold Spring Harbor. Thus, the Laboratory exerts an influence on biological research far out of proportion to its relatively small size (577 employees).
     Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1928, Dr. Watson received a B.S. (1947) from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. (1950) from Indiana University, both in zoology. Following a National Research Fellowship in Copenhagen and a National Foundation of Infantile Paralysis Fellowship at the University of Cambridge, England, he spent two years at the California Institute of Technology. He jointed the Harvard faculty in 1955 and became Professor in 1961, resigning in 1976 to become full-time director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory . In 1988 he was appointed Associate Director for Human Genome Research of the National Institutes of Health. In 1989 he was appointed Director of the National Center for Human Genome Research at the NIH. In 1992, Dr. Watson resigned his position at NCHGR after successfully launching a worldwide effort to map and sequence the human genome.
     Dr. Watson has received many honors, including the John Collins Warren Prize of Massachusetts General Hospital (1959), the Eli Lilly Award in Biochemistry (1960), the Albert Lasker Prize, awarded by the American Public Health Association (1960), the Research Corporation Prize (1962), the John J. Carty Gold Medal of the National Academy of Sciences (1971), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1977), the Copley Medal of the British Royal Society (1993), the Charles A. Dana Distinguished Achievement Award in Health (1994), Lomonosov Medal, Russian Academy of Sciences (1995) and the National Medal of Science awarded by President Clinton (1997).
     His memberships include the American Society of Biological Chemists (1958) and the American Association for Cancer Research (1972). He holds honorary affiliations with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1958), the National Academy of Sciences (1962), the Danish Academy of Arts and Sciences (1963), Clare College, Cambridge University (1968), the American Philosophical Society (1977), Athenaeum, London (1980), the Royal Society, London (1981), the Academy of Sciences, Russia (1989), Oxford University (1994), National Academy of Sciences, Ukraine (1995) University College Galway, The Society of Saints & Scholars (1995), Institute of Biology, London (1995), and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (1996).
     Dr. Watson has received honorary degrees from 22 universities and has published five books: Molecular Biology of the Gene, The Double Helix, The DNA Story, Molecular Biology of the Cell, and Recombinant DNA: A Short Course.
     He is married to the former Elizabeth Lewis, with whom he has two sons, Rufus and Duncan.