James D. Watson, Co-Discoverer of DNA’s Double Helix, Dies at 97
James D. Watson, the pioneering molecular biologist who co-discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, has died at the age of 97. Watson’s groundbreaking collaboration with Francis Crick in the early 1950s transformed the field of genetics and laid the foundation for modern molecular biology. Their discovery revealed the molecular blueprint of life and earned them, along with Maurice Wilkins, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962.
A longtime researcher and former leader of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Watson’s career spanned decades of scientific innovation as well as controversy. Despite the debates surrounding some of his later remarks, his role in uncovering DNA’s structure remains one of the most significant achievements in the history of science.
