Ever since the mid-1990s, Watson has largely gained public attention for pushing the widely-disproven idea that Black people are less intelligent than white people because of genetic differences. He briefly led the Human Genome Project from 1990-1992, but left after refusing to condone the National Institutes of Health’s plan to patent human genomes. He stayed at the CSHL for three decades, helping it greatly expand and become a world leader in medical and genetic research. Then, in 1968, he joined the prominent Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (or CSHL) as its research director. In 1956, Watson moved to Harvard University’s Department of Biology, and in 1962, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins. This discovery revolutionized molecular biology and is the foundation for all modern work in genetics.

The Double Helix covers the next three years: Watson began by researching bacteriophages in Copenhagen, then moved to the University of Cambridge, where he and Francis Crick famously used Rosalind Franklin’s X-ray data to discover the double helix structure of DNA. He finished in 1950, then moved to Europe to begin his career as a researcher. He then took an interest in the growing field of genetics, and he went to pursue a PhD at Indiana University. He began studying at the University of Chicago at just 15 years old and graduated with a degree in Zoology in 1947. James Watson was born and raised in Chicago, where he developed an early passion for birdwatching and ornithology.

The double helix by james d watson