James D. Watson (1928 –2025) was an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist best known as a co-discoverer of the double-helix structure of DNA in 1953 alongside Francis Crick and Rosalind Franklin. This groundbreaking discovery earned them the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Watson also co-authored the influential book The Double Helix, an insider’s account of scientific discovery.
He was the youngest director appointed at the famed Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he led pivotal research in molecular genetics and mentored generations of scientists. As an administrator, Watson secured major funding and established the lab as a global hub of molecular biology and biotechnology.
Watson later served as director of research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and as chancellor of the University of Chicago. He contributed significantly to the Human Genome Project, advocated open scientific data, and championed genomic research. Learn more.