James watson quotes

James Dewey Watson born April 6, is an American molecular biologist , geneticist , and zoologist. In , he co-authored with Francis Crick the academic paper in Nature proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. From to , Watson was on the faculty of the Harvard University Biology Department, promoting research in molecular biology.

At CSHL, he shifted his research emphasis to the study of cancer, along with making it a world-leading research center in molecular biology.

James watson contribution to dna

In , he started as president and served for 10 years. He was then appointed chancellor, serving until he resigned in after making comments claiming that there is a genetic link between intelligence and race. In , following the broadcast of a documentary in which Watson reiterated these views on race and genetics, CSHL revoked his honorary titles and severed all ties with him.

Watson has written many science books, including the textbook Molecular Biology of the Gene and his bestselling book The Double Helix Between and , Watson was associated with the National Institutes of Health , helping to establish the Human Genome Project , which completed the task of mapping the human genome in Watson, a businessman descended mostly from colonial English immigrants to America.

Originally, Watson was drawn into molecular biology by the work of Salvador Luria. He was part of a distributed group of researchers who were making use of the viruses that infect bacteria , called bacteriophages. The Phage Group was the intellectual medium where Watson became a working scientist.

James watson education

Importantly, the members of the Phage Group sensed that they were on the path to discovering the physical nature of the gene. In , Watson took a course with Felix Haurowitz that included the conventional view of that time: that genes were proteins and able to replicate themselves. Watson's research project involved using X-rays to inactivate bacterial viruses.