DNA pioneer James Watson dies at 97

Nobel Prize-winning American scientist James Watson has died aged 97.

His co-discovery of the structure of DNA opened the door to help explain how DNA replicates and carries genetic information, setting the stage for rapid advances in molecular biology.

But his honorary titles were stripped in 2019 after he repeated comments about race and intelligence. In a TV programme, he made a reference to a view that genes cause a difference on average between blacks and whites on IQ tests.

The death of Watson, who co-discovered the double-helix structure of DNA in 1953, was confirmed to the BBC by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he worked and researched for decades.

Watson shared the Nobel in 1962 with Maurice Wilkins and Francis Crick for the DNA’s double helix structure discovery.

“We have discovered the secret of life,” they said at the time.

His comments on race led to him saying that he felt ostracised by the scientific community.

In 2007, the scientist, who once worked at the University of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory, told the Times newspaper that he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa”, because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really”.

The comments led to him losing his job as chancellor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.

His additional comments in 2019 – when he once again suggested a link between race and intelligence – led the lab to strip his honorary titles of chancellor emeritus, Oliver R Grace professor emeritus and honorary trustee.

“Dr Watson’s statements are reprehensible, unsupported by science,” the laboratory said in a statement, adding that they effectively reverse his apology.

DNA was discovered in 1869, but researchers had yet to discover its structure, and it took until 1943 before scientists realised that DNA made up the genetic material in cells.

Working with images obtained by King’s College researcher Rosalind Franklin, without her knowledge, Crick and Watson were able to construct a physical model of the molecule.

Watson sold his Nobel Prize gold medal at auction for $4.8m (£3.6m) in 2014.

He had said he planned to sell the medal because he was ostracised by the scientific community after his remarks on race.