When he made similar statements in 2019, the lab’s board\u00a0revoked his Emeritus status and severed all connections with him, although he continued to live on the campus.<\/p>\n
The double helix \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Watson shared a 1962 Nobel Prize with Crick and\u00a0British\u00a0biophysicist Wilkins for discovering that DNA is a double helix, consisting of two strands that coil around each other to create what resembles a long, gently twisting ladder.<\/p>\n
Franklin\u00a0worked with them on the project. Although she died before they received the Nobel Prize, many historians have criticized Watson and Crick for using some of her research, including a photo of DNA taken with an X-ray called Photograph 51, while neglecting to give her credit and downplaying her contributions.<\/p>\n
Their work\u00a0suggested how hereditary information is stored and how cells duplicate their DNA when they divide. The duplication begins with the two strands of DNA pulling apart like a zipper.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0discovery led to monumental scientific developments such as\u00a0treating disease by inserting genes into patients, identifying human remains and criminal suspects from DNA samples and tracing family trees.<\/p>\n
Watson was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1928,\u00a0received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago in 1947 and his Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1950.<\/p>\n
His work with Crick took place while he was at the\u00a0University of Cambridge in England.<\/p>\n
Cold Spring Harbor Lab<\/p>\n
When Watson took over Cold Spring Harbor Lab<\/a>\u00a0in 1968, it was described in a Newsday article as “renowned but deteriorating”\u00a0and near bankruptcy. He revitalized the institution and helped focus its research on the role of DNA in\u00a0cancer and the molecular basis of the disease.<\/p>\n He also was able to raise funds from public and private sources to expand and renovate the properties, according to the lab’s website, continued the lab’s focus on science education and research\u00a0and\u00a0increased publication of laboratory manuals and journals.\u00a0<\/p>\n The lab said Watson “encouraged the creation of the DNA Learning Center<\/a>” targeted to high school students.<\/p>\n Watson started the Banbury Center on donated space in Lloyd Harbor. It serves as a think tank for research and policies on life and medical science, the lab said. And he was\u00a0the first director of the lab\u2019s Cancer Center, designated by the National Institutes of Health. <\/p>\n