The scientist helped break new ground in genetic research, but sparked an outcry by promoting racist ideas that were later debunked.
Published November 7, 2025
James Watson, the scientist whose research into the structure of DNA helped pave the way for advances in human genetics research, has died at the age of 97.
Watson was a brilliant but controversial figure who sparked an outcry by promoting racist ideas that were later debunked, and who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Medicine with fellow scientists Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins for their discovery of the double helix structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).
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In a statement announcing Watson’s death, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where Watson previously worked, called the discovery “a pivotal moment in the life sciences.” Watson said her son died in hospice care after a short illness.
Watson’s discoveries, along with the increasing use of DNA samples in criminology, helped pave the way for important developments in the treatment of diseases by changing the genetic makeup of organisms and inserting genes into patients.
“Francis Crick and I made the discovery of the century, that much is clear,” he once said, later writing that he could not have predicted “the double helix’s explosive influence on science and society.”
The image of a double helix in the form of a long twisted ladder has become an iconic symbol of science. When Watson first visualized how pieces of DNA form “rungs” on a ladder, he reportedly responded, “It’s so beautiful.”
But the famous scientist felt his reputation had been tarnished by his acceptance of a long-discredited theory of racism.
He said in a 2007 interview that he believed black people are inherently less intelligent than white people due to genetic factors, a statement that sparked an international outcry and resulted in him losing his position as director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
In a 2019 television interview, he said his beliefs on the issue had not changed. The institute issued a statement at the time calling his comments “reprehensible” and “without scientific support.”
Suggestions of genetic differences based on race or ethnicity are particularly controversial because of the long history of pseudoscientific theories of racial inferiority being used as a pretext for discriminatory policies and even violent subjugation and exclusion.
Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said in 2019 that “his rants, especially when it came to racial issues, were deeply misguided and deeply hurtful.”
“I wish Jim’s views on society and humanity had matched his great scientific insights.”
