James Watson

James Dewey Watson is an American biologist, geneticist, zoologist, and biochemist born in Chicago in 1928. He was educated at Indiana University Bloomington and the University of Chicago, with Salvador Luria as his doctoral advisor. His professional career includes positions at Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and the United States National Institutes of Health. He is a member of the Royal Society, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Watson’s notable work includes the book The Double Helix and contributions to the sequencing of genetic material. He has received the Copley Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Lomonosov Gold Medal, and the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. His doctoral students include Mario Capecchi, H. Robert Horvitz, Peter Moore, and Joan A. Steitz, while other students include Richard Roberts, Phillip Sharp, and Ronald W. Davis.