Nobel prize-winning biologist whose discovery, with Francis Crick, of the structure of DNA solved the mystery of genetic inheritance
James Watson, who has died aged 97, had an extraordinary gift for science, combined with ruthless ambition and an arrogant disregard for most of his peers. These combined qualities earned him a key role in one of the 20th century’s most profound scientific revolutions, a share in a Nobel prize, a bestselling memoir, a place in science history and the anger of many of his colleagues.
With Francis Crick, at Cambridge University in 1953, Watson discovered the structure of the giant molecule DNA – deoxyribonucleic acid, found in almost every living cell – and demonstrated that all inheritance, and even life itself, could be explained by chemistry and physics. The discovery revealed new horizons in evolutionary, biological, medical, archaeological, conservation and criminal sciences, and launched an industrial revolution, all within the working lifetime of the discoverers.
