Printable Biography of James Watson

The winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize, Dr. Watson uncovered the basic scientific structures of life and how the organization of these proteins and nucleotides arrange themselves to create the unique identities of each living organism.

There is no one with more authority than Dr. Watson to comment on the current direction and debates surrounding genetic engineering, cloning and the future of “lifeâ€' itself. Dr. Watson is a living legend whose greatest scientific discovery radically advanced and altered our understanding of human identity and whose legacy points to infinite possibilities and complicated questions.

From 1988 to 1992, Dr. Watson was appointed to head the National Institute of Health in the Human Genome Project, which involved thousands of scientists worldwide working to crack the human genetic code. The recent completion of the first survey of the entire human genome is a historic achievement in DNA research and provides scientists worldwide with the knowledge of an estimated 90% of genes on every chromosome. This discovery will expedite the understanding of how genetics can influence disease development, aid researchers looking for genes associated with particular diseases and lead to the discovery of new treatments.

With unique authority and sweeping vision, Dr. Watson now gives us the first full account of the genetic revolution—from Mendel’s garden to the double helix to the sequencing of the human genome and beyond in his book DNA. In this magisterial work, he guides readers through the startling and rapid advances in genetic technology and what these advances will mean for our lives. Dr. Watson is also the author of The Double Helix and Genes, Girls and Gamow: After the Double Helix.

A member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society, he has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Science and, with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1962. Dr. Watson received an honorary knighthood December 31, 2001.

In his speeches, Dr. Watson recounts his dramatic discovery of the double-helixed structure of DNA and the resulting implications his discovery has had on modern medicine and genetics with a sense of humor and a unique ability to articulate the complexities of modern genetics to scientific and lay audiences.

Dr. Watson is President of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and resides in Long Island, New York.