Watson and his co-author Francis Crick in a 1953 academic paper in the journal Nature proposed the double helical structure of the DNA molecule. (Photo: Nobel Prize) American molecular biologist James Dewey Watson, best known for his discovery of the structure of DNA, has died at the age of 97. The New York TimesWatson died Thursday in East Northport, Long Island, New York.
His son Duncan said NTY that Watson died at a hospice where he had been transferred this week from a hospital where he was being treated for an infection.
Watson and his co-author Francis Crick, considered one of the most important scientists of the 20th century, proposed the double helical structure of the DNA molecule in an academic paper in the journal Nature in 1953.
Nine years later, Watson, Crick and Maurice Wilkins won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and their significance for the transmission of information in living material.”
Born April 6, 1928, in Chicago, Illinois, Watson received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and his doctorate from Indiana University Bloomington. After his doctorate at the University of Copenhagen, Watson worked at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in England, where he first met Crick.
In March 1953, Watson and Crick deduced the double helix structure of DNA, changing our understanding of biology forever.
In addition to his contributions to science, Watson was also known for his campaigns for peace. During his time at Harvard, Watson participated in protests against the Vietnam War and led a group of 12 biologists and biochemists who called for the “immediate withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam.”
In 1975, on the thirtieth anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Watson was one of more than 2,000 scientists and engineers who spoke out against nuclear proliferation, arguing that there was no proven method for the safe disposal of radioactive waste and that nuclear power plants posed a security threat because of the possibility of plutonium theft by terrorists.
