[RIP tag]James Watson untwists at age 93

[Yoused]

One of Rosalind Franklin's notable assistants, alongside Francis Crick, in the discovery of the structure of DNA

James Watson, co-discoverer of the double-helix shape of DNA, has died at age 97

Scientist James Watson, who shared a Nobel prize for helping discover the double-helix shape of the DNA molecule, has died. He was 97.

apnews.com

makes you say "wow, was he still alive?"

 

[Cmaier]

I hear he was a pretty loathsome guy.

 

[Yoused]

I hear he was a pretty loathsome guy.

He outlived Crick by a couple decades and Franklin by nearly seven decades – as they say, only the good die young.

 

[dada_dave]

I've visited Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory where Watson spent most of his latter years and it is a lovely place with a rather dark history. I believe even all those years ago when I was there they tried their best to keep him away from everyone else though it wasn't until many years later that they belatedly severed ties with him. The history of the institution is also very much enmeshed with the worst parts of the early days of population genetics which was sadly heavily involved with eugenics*. There were a lot of people who felt it very ... rhyming that Watson had been director, president, and chancellor of CSHL.

*To be fair after the Nazis and WW2 *most* of those early scientists, when confronted with the actual implications of what eugenics would lead to, recanted. Regardless of why they had once thought eugenics was a good idea, it's one of the stains on the field.

 

[dada_dave]

This woman pre-wrote Watson’s obituary before her own death in 2021

James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers

James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.

www.statnews.com

I have to admit this one reason why I despise the revolutionary iconoclast idea so much. The self confidence becomes arrogance and finally delusion.