James D. Watson, DNA Double-Helix Co-Discoverer, Dies at 97

Overview

• Watson died on November 6, 2025, in East Northport, New York, at age 97, a death confirmed by his son to the New York Times, with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory also announcing it.
• Working with Francis Crick, he identified DNA’s double-helix structure in 1953, a breakthrough honored by the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine shared with Maurice Wilkins.
• He helped initiate the Human Genome Project at the U.S. National Institutes of Health in 1988 and left in 1992 after disputes with NIH leadership, after which Francis Collins guided the effort to the 2003 reference sequence.
• As a longtime leader at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, he helped develop the institution into a major center for molecular biology research.
• His standing in science declined after a 2007 interview in which he claimed racial differences in intelligence, prompting the loss of honorary positions and renewed criticism when he later repeated similar views.