James Watson, the American 1962 Nobel Prize—winning molecular biologist whose co-discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA helped make possible the mapping of the human genome, has died at age 97.

Often celebrated as a pioneer of genetics, allegations of uncredited work and discriminatory and inflammatory remarks cast a shadow over his legacy.

 

Discovering the secret of life
In the spring of 1953, Watson and fellow molecular biologist Francis Crick described the now-familiar twisting ladder double-helix structure of deoxyribonucleic acid in the British journal Nature. It was the first time anyone had seen the DNA molecule that carries the genetic information of every living organism, including humans, and it revolutionized thinking about everything from our evolutionary origins to inherited diseases.

 

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/james-watson-death-dna-double-helix

 

Watson & Crick. That was quite a pair.