James Watson is an American molecular biologist, who is best known as the co-discoverer of the double helix structure of the DNA. The discovery was made in 1953 and also led to him being awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 along with Crick and Maurice Wilkins.
It was later recognized that Watson and his colleagues didn’t properly attribute colleague Rosalind Franklin for her contributions to the groundbreaking discovery. Watson has also written many science books including Molecular Biology of the Gene (1965) and his bestseller book The Double Helix (1968). Let’s see his road to this discovery.
James Watson’s past life and degrees
James Watson took birth in Chicago in 1928 and grew up in the south side of the city. He studied at the Horace Mann Grammar School and South Shore High School. He enrolled at the University of Chicago, where he was awarded a tuition scholarship, at the age of 15.
Watson there learned about factor analysis from his professor Louis Leon Thurstone, which he would later reference on his controversial take on race. After reading a book from Erwin Schrödinger’s called What Is Life? in 1946, Watson changed his professional ambitions from studying ornithology to genetics.
From the University of Chicago, Watson received his BS degree in Zoology in 1947. The same year, he left the university to become a graduate student at Indiana University. He was impressed by Nobel Prize winner Hermann Joseph Muller, who laid out the basic properties of the heredity molecule. Watson received his Ph.D. degree from Indiana University in 1950.
Research on the double helix of the DNA
Watson was impressed by the work of Salvador Luria, which eventually led him to go towards molecular biology. In 1948, Watson began his Ph.D. research in Luria’s lab at Indiana University. Watson also joined the Phage Group as a working scientist. The members of the group realized that they were going to discover the physical nature of the gene.
In 1949, Watson took a course with Felix Haurwitz with a conventional view of that time: that genes were proteins and can replicate themselves. The next year, Watson went to Copenhagen University for a year of postdoctoral research. He wanted to explore the structure of DNA, spending the remainder of his time in the university carrying out experiments with microbial physiologist Ole Maaløe.
Discovery of the double helix
In 1953, Watson and Crick deduced the double helix structure of DNA. Both of them submitted a paper called “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid” to the journal Nature. It was published later that year.
The Cambridge University student newspaper also published a short article on the discovery. At the 18th Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on Viruses, Watson subsequently presented a paper on the double helix structure of DNA. Speaking of the honors: Watson has won the Nobel Prize, National Medal of Science, Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, and several others.
