1928-

American Molecular Biologist

In 1962 James Dewey Watson shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine with Francis Crick (1916- ) and Maurice Wilkins (1916- ) for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and its significance for the transmission of genetic information. Molecular biologists have called the discovery of the double-helical structure of DNA one of the most important developments in twentieth-century biology. The structure of DNA proposed by Crick and Watson in 1953 immediately suggested insights into the nature of the gene, the genetic code, and mechanism by which information stored in DNA was transmitted from generation to generation.

Watson was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was a bright and precocious child who appeared as a Quiz Kid on a national radio program. Only 15 when he entered the University of Chicago, Watson was attracted to the natural sciences, especially ornithology. He later claimed that...