American molecular biologist James Dewey Watson, renowned for his discovery of the structure of DNA, has passed away at the age of 97. According to The New York Times, Watson died on Thursday in East Northport, Long Island, New York.
His son Duncan revealed to the newspaper that Watson had been moved to a hospice earlier this week from a hospital, where he was being treated for an infection.
Considered one of the most significant scientists of the 20th century, Watson, alongside his colleague Francis Crick, proposed the double helix structure of DNA in a landmark 1953 paper published in Nature.
In 1962, Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries regarding the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its implications for information transfer in living organisms.
Born on April 6, 1928, in Chicago, Illinois, Watson earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and a PhD from Indiana University Bloomington. After a post-doctoral year at the University of Copenhagen, he worked at the University of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory, where he met Crick for the first time.
Their groundbreaking realization of DNA’s double helix structure in March 1953 revolutionized the field of biology.
In addition to his scientific achievements, Watson was an advocate for peace. While at Harvard, he protested against the Vietnam War and led a coalition of 12 biologists and biochemists demanding the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam.
On the 30th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing in 1975, he was among over 2,000 scientists and engineers who voiced their concerns about nuclear proliferation, arguing that there was no safe method for disposing of radioactive waste and that nuclear plants posed potential security threats due to the risk of plutonium theft by terrorists.
Original Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/world/james-watson-who-helped-discover-the-structure-of-dna-dies-at-the-age-of-97-10352694/
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Publish Date: 2025-11-08 01:38:00
