One of the most significant scientists of the past century has died at the age of 97. I am referring to the American Nobel laureate James Watson, who—together with Francis Crick and Rosalind Franklin—unraveled the structure of DNA.
Watson and Crick in fact determined the structure of DNA without authorization, as they did it alongside their official work, correctly interpreting Franklin’s X-ray crystallographic data. This story is fascinatingly told in Watson’s book The Double Helix, published in the late 1960s, which anyone interested in the history of science should read.
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The great scientist who has now passed away was raised Catholic but later described himself as “a refugee from the Catholic religion.” In his words: “The luckiest thing that ever happened to me was that my father didn’t believe in God.” Thus, at the age of eleven, he stopped participating in religious rituals and instead embraced “the pursuit of scientific and humanistic knowledge.”
Watson completed his PhD at Indiana University in the United States, then moved to Copenhagen for a year as a postdoctoral researcher before taking another postdoctoral position in the United Kingdom. He made his breakthrough discovery concerning the structure of DNA while working at Oxford.
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After these formative years, Watson later returned to his home country. There he became politically active, taking a stand against the deployment of American troops to Vietnam and later opposing nuclear technology, warning of the risk that radioactive materials could fall into the hands of terrorists.
Watson also directed the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, earning recognition for “transforming a small institution into one of the world’s leading centers for education and research.” By launching a program to study the causes of human cancer, scientists under his leadership made major contributions to understanding the genetic basis of cancer.
In 1990, Watson became head of the Human Genome Project. He was, however, forced to step down after opposing the patenting of its results. As he stated, “The world’s peoples must understand that the human genome belongs to the world’s people, not to its nations.”
According to press reports, in 1997 Watson stated that “if you could find a gene that influences sexuality, and a woman decided she didn’t want a homosexual child, she should be allowed to make that choice.” He apparently meant freedom of choice rather than advocating the abortion of homosexual fetuses.
In subsequent years, Watson made other remarks that drew attention and criticism from many quarters. In 2000, he said that “whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you’re not going to hire them.”
Later, he publicly supported genetic screening and genetic engineering, claiming that stupidity is a disease and that the “really stupid” 10% of humanity should be cured. He also suggested that beauty could be modified through genetic engineering, saying in 2003: “People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty. I think it would be great.”
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As these examples show, Watson had an interesting way of seeing things. The same could be said of his opinions on many other subjects.
According to Watson, stereotypes about race and ethnicity had a genetic basis: Jews were intelligent; the Chinese were intelligent but uncreative because of conformity; and Indians were servile due to caste-based endogamy. He further claimed that “all our social policies are based on the fact that their (Black people’s) intelligence is the same as ours (White people’s) — whereas all the testing says not really.”
These views provoked widespread protests and ultimately led to Watson’s retirement, even though his stated intention had been “to advance science, not racism.” Unfortunately, the world was not ready for such discussions then — and perhaps still isn’t.
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Adding an intriguing note to his story, Watson sold his Nobel Prize medal in 2014 after being branded a “nonperson” because of his views. However, he did not keep all the proceeds; part of the money — $4.1 million — was donated to support scientific research. The Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, who bought the medal, later returned it to Watson.
I conclude this obituary by saying that James Watson was not only a great pioneer of science but also an honest defender of scientific knowledge and its freedom — a stance that ultimately pushed him to the margins. Not because his views were inconsistent with scientific knowledge, but because they did not fit the increasingly value-liberal dreamworld that has come to dominate the Western world.
Previous thoughts on the same topic:
"Woke" pushes American science academies to favor women in their membership selections
Should forbidden questions be answered or not?
Sexual harassment and bullying in working life
The original blogpost in Finnish:
James Watson – yksi aikamme suurimmista tiedemiehistä on kuollut
