James D. Watson

Physicist, Academic

1928 –

 Credit ยป
55

Who is James D. Watson?

James Dewey Watson, KBE, ForMemRS, is an American molecular biologist, geneticist and zoologist, best known as a co-discoverer of the structure of DNA in 1953 with Francis Crick. Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material".

After studies at the University of Chicago and Indiana University, Watson did postdoctoral research to absorb chemistry with the biochemist Herman Kalckar in Copenhagen. Watson next worked at the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory in England, where he first met his future collaborator and friend Francis Crick.

From 1956 to 1976, Watson was on the faculty of the Harvard University Biology Department, promoting research in molecular biology. From 1968 he served as director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island, New York, greatly expanding its level of funding and research. At CSHL, he shifted his research emphasis to the study of cancer, along with making it a world leading research center in molecular biology.

Famous Quotes:

  • If we don't play God, who will?

We need you!

Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!

Born
Apr 6, 1928
Chicago
Also known as
  • James Watson
  • James Dewey Watson
  • Dr James Watson
  • Dr. James Watson
Parents
Siblings
Spouses
Children
Religion
  • Atheism
Nationality
  • United States of America
Profession
Education
  • PhD, Indiana University Bloomington
    Zoology
    ( - 1950)
  • Bachelor of Science, University of Chicago
    Zoology
    (1943 - 1947)
  • Clare College, Cambridge
  • South Shore High School
  • Horace Mann Grammar School
Employment
  • California Institute of Technology
    (1953 - 1955)
Lived in
  • Huntington
    (1974 - )

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Citation

Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"James D. Watson." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/james_d_watson>.

Discuss this James D. Watson biography with the community:

0 Comments

    Browse Biographies.net