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114-494: Ten years after James Watson and Francis Crick published their model of the DNA double helix, Karst Hoogsteen reported a crystal structure of a complex in which analogues of A and T formed a base pair that had a different geometry from that described by Watson and Crick. Similarly, an alternative base-pairing geometry can occur for G•C pairs. Hoogsteen pointed out that if the alternative hydrogen-bonding patterns were present in DNA, then

228-505: A tailor , was from Glasgow , Scotland, and her mother, Lizzie Gleason, was the child of parents from County Tipperary , Ireland. His mother was a modestly religious Catholic and his father an Episcopalian who had lost his belief in God. Watson was raised Catholic, but he later described himself as "an escapee from the Catholic religion". Watson said, "The luckiest thing that ever happened to me

342-683: A "*" or a ":" (example: C•G*C+, T•A*T, C•G*G, or T•A*A). Hoogsteen pairs also allows formation of secondary structures of single stranded DNA and RNA G-rich called G-quadruplexes (G4-DNA and G4-RNA). Evidence exists for both in vitro and in vivo formation of G4s. Genomic G4s have been suggested to regulate gene transcription and at the RNA level inhibit protein synthesis through steric inhibition of ribosome function. It needs four triplets of G, separated by short spacers. This permits assembly of planar quartets which are composed of stacked associations of Hoogsteen bonded guanine molecules. James Watson This

456-418: A ... November night was to be told by a woman to refrain from venturing an opinion about a subject for which you were not trained." Robert P. Crease remarks that "[Franklin] was close to figuring out the structure of DNA, but did not do it. The title of 'discoverer' goes to those who first fit the pieces together". Jeremy Bernstein rejects that Franklin was a "victim" and states that "[Watson and Crick] made

570-604: A Life in Science , Watson describes his academic colleagues as "dinosaurs", "deadbeats", "fossils", "has-beens", "mediocre", and "vapid". Steve Shapin in Harvard Magazine noted that Watson had written an unlikely "Book of Manners", telling about the skills needed at different times in a scientist's career; he wrote Watson was known for aggressively pursuing his own goals at the university. E. O. Wilson once described Watson as "the most unpleasant human being I had ever met", but in

684-451: A certificate for the monetary award. The front side of the medal displays the same profile of Alfred Nobel depicted on the medals for Physics, Chemistry, and Literature; the reverse side is unique to this medal. Some awards have been controversial. This includes one to António Egas Moniz in 1949 for the prefrontal lobotomy , bestowed despite protests from the medical establishment. Other controversies resulted from disagreements over who

798-614: A diploma directly from the King of Sweden . Each diploma is uniquely designed by the prize-awarding institutions for the laureate who receives it. In the case of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, that is the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute. Well-known artists and calligraphers from Sweden are commissioned to create it. The diploma contains a picture and text which states the name of

912-422: A homosexual child, well, let her." The biologist Richard Dawkins wrote a letter to The Independent claiming that Watson's position was misrepresented by The Sunday Telegraph article, and that Watson would equally consider the possibility of having a heterosexual child to be just as valid as any other reason for abortion, to emphasise that Watson is in favor of allowing choice. On the issue of obesity, Watson

1026-417: A later TV interview said that he considered them friends and their rivalry at Harvard "old history" (when they had competed for funding in their respective fields). In the epilogue to the memoir Avoid Boring People , Watson alternately attacks and defends former Harvard University president Lawrence Summers , who stepped down in 2006 due in part to his remarks about women and science. Watson also states in

1140-515: A member of the Harvard faculty until 1976, even though he took over the directorship of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in 1968. During his tenure at Harvard, Watson participated in a protest against the Vietnam War , leading a group of 12 biologists and biochemists calling for "the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam". In 1975, on the thirtieth anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Watson

1254-581: A member of the Phage Group. The experiments, which Watson had learned of during the previous summer's Cold Spring Harbor phage conference, included the use of radioactive phosphate as a tracer to determine which molecular components of phage particles actually infect the target bacteria during viral infection. The intention was to determine whether protein or DNA was the genetic material, but upon consultation with Max Delbrück, they determined that their results were inconclusive and could not specifically identify

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1368-553: A new avenue for medical science". He died within a year after receiving the prize at the age of 43. Ivan Pavlov , whose work Nobel admired and supported, received the prize in 1904 for his work on the physiology of digestion . Subsequently, those selecting the recipients have exercised wide latitude in determining what falls under the umbrella of Physiology or Medicine. The awarding of the prize in 1973 to Nikolaas Tinbergen , Konrad Lorenz , and Karl von Frisch for their observations of animal behavioural patterns could be considered

1482-527: A paper in The Lancet suggesting that biological oxidants may have a different role than is thought in diseases including diabetes, dementia, heart disease and cancer. For example, type 2 diabetes is usually thought to be caused by oxidation in the body that causes inflammation and kills off pancreatic cells. Watson thinks the root of that inflammation is different: "a lack of biological oxidants, not an excess", and discusses this in detail. One critical response

1596-416: A particular category, the award grant is divided equally between the recipients, but if there are three, the awarding committee may opt to divide the grant equally, or award half to one recipient and a quarter to each of the two others. The awards are bestowed at a gala ceremony followed by a banquet. The Nobel Banquet is an extravagant affair with the menu, planned months ahead of time, kept secret until

1710-649: A popular radio show that challenged bright youngsters to answer questions. Thanks to the liberal policy of university president Robert Hutchins , he enrolled at the University of Chicago , where he was awarded a tuition scholarship, at the age of 15. Among his professors was Louis Leon Thurstone from whom Watson learned about factor analysis , which he would later reference on his controversial views on race . After reading Erwin Schrödinger 's book, What Is Life? in 1946, Watson changed his professional ambitions from

1824-578: A position in the biology department at Harvard University . His work at Harvard focused on RNA and its role in the transfer of genetic information. Watson championed a switch in focus for the school from classical biology to molecular biology , stating that disciplines such as ecology , developmental biology , taxonomy , physiology , etc. had stagnated and could progress only once the underlying disciplines of molecular biology and biochemistry had elucidated their underpinnings, going so far as to discourage their study by students. Watson continued to be

1938-566: A prize in the behavioural sciences rather than medicine or physiology. Tinbergen expressed surprise in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech at "the unconventional decision of the Nobel Foundation to award this year's prize 'for Physiology or Medicine' to three men who had until recently been regarded as 'mere animal watchers'". Laureates have been awarded the Nobel Prize in a wide range of fields that relate to physiology or medicine. As of 2010 , eight Prizes have been awarded for contributions in

2052-513: A provision was added that no more than three persons may share a Nobel prize. True to its mandate, the committee has chosen researchers working in the basic sciences over those who have made applied science contributions. Harvey Cushing , a pioneering American neurosurgeon who identified Cushing's syndrome , was not awarded the prize, nor was Sigmund Freud , as his psychoanalysis lacks hypotheses that can be experimentally confirmed. The public expected Jonas Salk or Albert Sabin to receive

2166-596: A talk at the Guy's Hospital Medical School in London on Thursday, May 14, 1953, which resulted in a May 15, 1953, article by Ritchie Calder in the London newspaper News Chronicle , entitled "Why You Are You. Nearer Secret of Life". Sydney Brenner , Jack Dunitz , Dorothy Hodgkin , Leslie Orgel , and Beryl M. Oughton were some of the first people in April 1953 to see the model of the structure of DNA , constructed by Crick and Watson; at

2280-412: A turning point in science; understanding of life was fundamentally changed and the modern era of biology began. Watson and Crick's use of DNA X-ray diffraction data collected by Rosalind Franklin and her student Raymond Gosling has attracted scrutiny. It has been argued that Watson and his colleagues did not properly acknowledge colleague Rosalind Franklin for her contributions to the discovery of

2394-538: A year of postdoctoral research, first heading to the laboratory of biochemist Herman Kalckar . Kalckar was interested in the enzymatic synthesis of nucleic acids, and he wanted to use phages as an experimental system. Watson wanted to explore the structure of DNA, and his interests did not coincide with Kalckar's. After working part of the year with Kalckar, Watson spent the remainder of his time in Copenhagen conducting experiments with microbial physiologist Ole Maaløe, then

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2508-532: Is a former member of the Board of Directors of United Biomedical, Inc., founded by Chang Yi Wang . He held the position for six years and retired from the board in 1999. In January 2007, Watson accepted the invitation of Leonor Beleza , president of the Champalimaud Foundation , to become the head of the foundation's scientific council, an advisory organ. In March 2017, Watson was named head consultant of

2622-518: Is an accepted version of this page James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biologist , geneticist , and zoologist . In 1953, he co-authored with Francis Crick the academic paper in Nature proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule . Watson, Crick and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning

2736-543: Is presented annually on the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death, 10 December. As of 2024, 115 Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine have been awarded to 229 laureates, 216 men and 13 women. The first one was awarded in 1901 to the German physiologist, Emil von Behring , for his work on serum therapy and the development of a vaccine against diphtheria . The first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Gerty Cori , received it in 1947 for her role in elucidating

2850-499: Is responsible for the Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Today, the prize is commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Medicine. It was important to Nobel that the prize be awarded for a "discovery" and that it be of "greatest benefit on mankind". Per the provisions of the will, only select persons are eligible to nominate individuals for the award. These include members of academies around

2964-639: Is smaller than in the regular geometry. In some cases, called reversed Hoogsteen base pair s, one base is rotated 180° with respect to the other. In some DNA sequences, especially CA and TA dinucleotides, Hoogsteen base pairs exist as transient entities that are present in thermal equilibrium with standard Watson–Crick base pairs. The detection of the transient species required the use of NMR relaxation dispersion spectroscopy applied to macromolecules. Hoogsteen base pairs have been observed in protein–DNA complexes. Some proteins have evolved to recognize only one base-pair type, and use intermolecular interactions to shift

3078-498: The Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel 's 1895 will, are awarded "to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind". Nobel Prizes are awarded in the fields of Physics , Medicine or Physiology, Chemistry , Literature , and Peace . The Nobel Prize

3192-406: The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Whether Robert Gallo or Luc Montagnier deserved more credit for the discovery of the virus that causes AIDS has been a matter of considerable controversy . As it was, Gallo was left out and not awarded a prize. Additionally, there was a scandal when it was learned that Harald zur Hausen was being investigated for having a financial interest in vaccines for

3306-454: The 100th birthday. There have been 38 times when the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to a single individual, 31 times when it was shared by two, and 33 times there were three laureates (the maximum allowed). Because of the length of time that may pass before the significance of a discovery becomes apparent, some prizes are awarded many years after the initial discovery. Barbara McClintock made her discoveries in 1944, before

3420-428: The 1950s onward, there has been an increasing trend to award the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to more than one person. There were 59 people who received the prize in the first 50 years of the last century, while 113 individuals received it between 1951 and 2000. This increase could be attributed to the rise of the international scientific community after World War II, resulting in more persons being responsible for

3534-605: The Cheerland Investment Group, a Chinese investment company which sponsored his trip. Watson has also been an institute adviser for the Allen Institute for Brain Science . Watson has had disagreements with Craig Venter regarding his use of EST fragments while Venter worked at NIH . Venter went on to found Celera genomics and continued his feud with Watson. Watson was quoted as calling Venter "Hitler". In his 2007 memoir, Avoid Boring People: Lessons from

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3648-768: The Gene (1965) and his bestselling book The Double Helix (1968). Between 1988 and 1992, Watson was associated with the National Institutes of Health , helping to establish the Human Genome Project , which completed the task of mapping the human genome in 2003. Watson was born in Chicago on April 6, 1928, as the only son of Jean ( née Mitchell) and James D. Watson, a businessman descended mostly from colonial English immigrants to America. His mother's father, Lauchlin Mitchell,

3762-547: The Genome Project, he had stated his own opinion on this long and ongoing controversy which he saw as an illogical barrier to research; he said, "The nations of the world must see that the human genome belongs to the world's people, as opposed to its nations." He left within weeks of the 1992 announcement that the NIH would be applying for patents on brain-specific cDNAs. (The issue of the patentability of genes has since been resolved in

3876-532: The Nobel Prize, and it was considered necessary to establish a legally independent body for the Prize work. Therefore, the Nobel Assembly was constituted, consisting of 50 professors at Karolinska Institute. It elects the Nobel Committee with five members who evaluate the nominees, the Secretary who is in charge of the organisation, and each year ten adjunct members to assist in the evaluation of candidates. In 1968,

3990-476: The Nobel family. The first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded in 1901 to the German physiologist Emil Adolf von Behring . Behring's discovery of serum therapy in the development of the diphtheria and tetanus vaccines put "in the hands of the physician a victorious weapon against illness and deaths". In 1902, the award went to Ronald Ross for his work on malaria, "by which he has shown how it enters

4104-425: The Physiology or Medicine Prize for his development of the prefrontal leucotomy , which he promoted by declaring the procedure's success just 10 days postoperative. Due largely to the publicity surrounding the award, it was prescribed without regard for modern medical ethics . Favourable results were reported by such publications as The New York Times . It is estimated that around 40,000 lobotomies were performed in

4218-834: The Roman poet Virgil . A plate below the figures is inscribed with the name of the recipient. The text "REG. UNIVERSITAS MED. CHIR. CAROL." denoting the Karolinska Institute is also inscribed on the reverse. Between 1902 and 2010 the Nobel Prize medals were struck by the Myntverket , the Swedish royal mint , located in Eskilstuna . In 2011 the medals were made by the Det Norske Myntverket in Kongsberg . The medals have been made by Svenska Medalj in Eskilstuna since 2012. Nobel laureates receive

4332-471: The Romanian Ministry of Industry and Trade). The Spanish neurophysiologist Fernando de Castro (1896–1967) was the first to describe arterial chemoreceptors and circumscribe them to the carotid body for the respiratory reflexes in 1926–1928. For many experts, this direct disciple of Santiago Ramón y Cajal deserved to share the Nobel Prize 1938 with the awarded Corneille Heymans, but at that time Spain

4446-626: The US by the US Supreme Court ; see Association for Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office .) In 1994, Watson became president of CSHL . Francis Collins took over the role as director of the Human Genome Project. Watson was quoted in The Sunday Telegraph in 1997 as stating: "If you could find the gene which determines sexuality and a woman decides she doesn't want

4560-495: The United States before the procedure's popularity faded. Rosemary Kennedy , the sister of John F. Kennedy , was subjected to the procedure by their father ; it incapacitated her to the extent that she needed to be institutionalised for the rest of her life. The 1952 prize, awarded solely to Selman Waksman for his discovery of streptomycin , omitted the recognition some felt due to his co-discoverer Albert Schatz . There

4674-425: The United States for discovering the process by which chromosomes are protected by telomeres (regions of repetitive DNA at the ends of chromosomes) and the enzyme telomerase . Rita Levi-Montalcini, an Italian neurologist , who together with colleague Stanley Cohen , received the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of Nerve growth factor (NGF) , was the first Nobel laureate to reach

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4788-480: The University of Chicago to become a graduate student at Indiana University , attracted by the presence at Bloomington of the 1946 Nobel Prize winner Hermann Joseph Muller , who in crucial papers published in 1922, 1929, and in the 1930s had laid out all the basic properties of the heredity molecule that Schrödinger presented in his 1944 book. He received his PhD degree from Indiana University in 1950; Salvador Luria

4902-463: The age of 79 from CSHL from what the lab called "nearly 40 years of distinguished service". Watson attributed his retirement to his age and to circumstances that he could never have anticipated or desired. Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine ( Swedish : Nobelpriset i fysiologi eller medicin ) is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at

5016-545: The amino acid alpha helix , a result that grew out of Pauling's efforts in X-ray crystallography and molecular model building. After obtaining some results from his phage and other experimental research conducted at Indiana University, Statens Serum Institut (Denmark), CSHL, and the California Institute of Technology , Watson now had the desire to learn to perform X-ray diffraction experiments so he could work to determine

5130-510: The best evidence for the helical nature of DNA. Watson and Crick had three sources for Franklin's unpublished data: In a 1954 article, Watson and Crick acknowledged that, without Franklin's data, "the formulation of our structure would have been most unlikely, if not impossible". In The Double Helix , Watson later admitted that "Rosy, of course, did not directly give us her data. For that matter, no one at King's realized they were in our hands". In recent years, Watson has garnered controversy in

5244-471: The central and peripheral nervous system." A Medicine or Physiology Nobel Prize laureate earns a gold medal , a diploma bearing a citation , and a sum of money. These are awarded during the prize ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall . The Physiology and Medicine medal has a portrait of Alfred Nobel in left profile on the obverse . The medal was designed by Erik Lindberg . The reverse of

5358-481: The cervical cancer that HPV can cause. AstraZeneca , which had a stake in two lucrative HPV vaccines could benefit financially from the prize, had agreed to sponsor Nobel Media and Nobel Web. According to Times Online, two senior figures in the selection process that chose zur Hausen also had strong links with AstraZeneca. The provision that restricts the maximum number of nominees to three for any one prize, introduced in 1968, has caused considerable controversy. From

5472-484: The day of the event. The Nobel Foundation chooses the menu after tasting and testing selections submitted by selected chefs of international repute. Currently, it is a three-course dinner, although it was originally six courses in 1901. Each Nobel Prize laureate may bring up to 16 guests. Sweden's royal family attends, and typically the Prime Minister and other members of the government attend as well as representatives of

5586-552: The director of the Cavendish Laboratory (where Watson and Crick worked), made the original announcement of the discovery at a Solvay conference on proteins in Belgium on April 8, 1953; it went unreported by the press. Watson and Crick submitted a paper entitled " Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid " to the scientific journal Nature , which was published on April 25, 1953. Bragg gave

5700-468: The discovery of insulin as a central hormone for controlling diabetes (awarded only a year after its discovery) has been heatedly debated. It was shared between Frederick Banting and John Macleod ; this infuriated Banting who regarded Macleod's involvement as minimal. Macleod was the department head at the University of Toronto but otherwise was not directly involved in the findings. Banting thought his laboratory partner Charles Best , who had shared in

5814-509: The discovery of genetic transposition . Mario Capecchi , Martin Evans , and Oliver Smithies were awarded the prize in 2007 for the discovery of a gene targeting procedure (a type of genetic recombination ) for introducing homologous recombination in mice, employing embryonic stem cells through the development of the knockout mouse . In 2009, the Nobel Prize was awarded to Elizabeth Blackburn , Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak of

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5928-536: The discovery of the double helix in his book The Double Helix , Franklin has come to be portrayed as a classic victim of sexism in science. Chargaff, for his part, was not quiet about his exclusion from the prize, bitterly writing to other scientists about his disillusionment regarding the field of molecular biology. The 2008 award went to Harald zur Hausen in recognition of his discovery that human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause cervical cancer , and to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for discovering

6042-471: The discovery, and nominated for, a particular prize. Also, current biomedical research is more often carried out by teams rather than by scientists working alone, making it unlikely that any one scientist, or even a few, is primarily responsible for a discovery; this has meant that a prize nomination that would have to include more than three contributors is automatically excluded from consideration. Also, deserving contributors may not be nominated at all because

6156-432: The discovery. The 1953 Cold Spring Harbor Symposium was the first opportunity for many to see the model of the DNA double helix. Watson, Crick, and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 for their research on the structure of nucleic acids. Rosalind Franklin had died in 1958 and was therefore ineligible for nomination. The publication of the double helix structure of DNA has been described as

6270-458: The double helix structure. Robert P. Crease notes that "Such stingy behaviour may not be unknown, or even uncommon, among scientists". Franklin's high-quality X-ray diffraction patterns of DNA were unpublished results, which Watson and Crick used without her knowledge or consent in their construction of the double helix model of DNA. Franklin's results provided estimates of the water content of DNA crystals and these results were consistent with

6384-508: The double helix would have to assume a quite different shape. Hoogsteen base pairs are observed in alternative structures such as the four-stranded G-quadruplex structures that form in DNA and RNA. Hoogsteen pairs have quite different properties from Watson–Crick base pairs . The angle between the two glycosidic bonds (ca. 80° in the A• T pair) is larger and the C1 ′ –C1 ′ distance (ca. 860 pm or 8.6 Å)

6498-529: The double-helix scheme work. It is as simple as that". Matthew Cobb and Nathaniel C. Comfort write that "Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved" but that she was "an equal contributor to the solution of the structure". A review of the correspondence from Franklin to Watson, in the archives at CSHL, revealed that the two scientists later exchanged constructive scientific correspondence. Franklin consulted with Watson on her tobacco mosaic virus RNA research. Franklin's letters were framed with

6612-467: The duplexes, which are assembled in the Watson–Crick pattern , and form triple-stranded helices such as (poly(dA)•2poly(dT)) and (poly(rG)•2poly(rC)). It can be also seen in three-dimensional structures of transfer RNA , as T54•A58 and U8•A14. Watson–Crick base pairs are indicated by a "•", "-", or a "." (example: A•T, or poly(rC)•2poly(rC)). Hoogsteen triple-stranded DNA base pairs are indicated by

6726-629: The epilogue, "Anyone sincerely interested in understanding the imbalance in the representation of men and women in science must reasonably be prepared at least to consider the extent to which nature may figure, even with the clear evidence that nurture is strongly implicated." At a conference in 2000, Watson suggested a link between skin color and sex drive, hypothesizing that dark-skinned people have stronger libidos . His lecture argued that extracts of melanin —which gives skin its color—had been found to boost subjects' sex drive. "That's why you have Latin lovers ", he said, according to people who attended

6840-405: The equilibrium between the two geometries. DNA has many features that allow its sequence-specific recognition by proteins. This recognition was originally thought to primarily involve specific hydrogen-bonding interactions between amino-acid side chains and bases. But it soon became clear that there was no identifiable one-to-one correspondence — that is, there was no simple code to be read. Part of

6954-425: The evil system." In 1990, Watson was appointed as the head of the Human Genome Project at the National Institutes of Health , a position he held until April 10, 1992. Watson left the Genome Project after conflicts with the new NIH Director, Bernadine Healy . Watson was opposed to Healy's attempts to acquire patents on gene sequences, and any ownership of the "laws of nature". Two years before stepping down from

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7068-526: The fact that their (blacks) intelligence is the same as ours (whites) – whereas all the testing says not really ... people who have to deal with black employees find this not true." Watson has repeatedly asserted that differences in average measured IQ between blacks and whites are due to genetics. In early October 2007, he was interviewed by Charlotte Hunt-Grubbe at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL). He discussed his view that Africans are less intelligent than Westerners. Watson said his intention

7182-923: The field of signal transduction through G proteins and second messengers . 13 have been awarded for contributions in the field of neurobiology and 13 have been awarded for contributions in Intermediary metabolism . The 100 Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine have been awarded to 195 individuals through 2009. Thirteen women have received the prize: Gerty Cori (1947), Rosalyn Yalow (1977), Barbara McClintock (1983), Rita Levi-Montalcini (1986), Gertrude B. Elion (1988), Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard (1995), Linda B. Buck (2004), Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (2008), Elizabeth H. Blackburn (2009), Carol W. Greider (2009), May-Britt Moser (2014), Tu Youyou (2015) and Katalin Karikó (2023). Only one woman, Barbara McClintock, has received an unshared prize in this category, for

7296-945: The funds raised by the sale went to support scientific research. The medal sold at auction at Christie's in December 2014 for US$ 4.1 million . Watson intended to contribute the proceeds to conservation work in Long Island and to funding research at Trinity College, Dublin. He was the first living Nobel recipient to auction a medal. The medal was later returned to Watson by the purchaser, Alisher Usmanov . Several of Watson's former doctoral students subsequently became notable in their own right including, Mario Capecchi , Bob Horvitz , Peter B. Moore and Joan Steitz . Besides numerous PhD students, Watson also supervised postdoctoral researchers and other interns including Ewan Birney , Ronald W. Davis , Phillip Allen Sharp (postdoc), John Tooze (postdoc) and Richard J. Roberts (postdoc). Watson

7410-453: The genetic basis of cancer." In a retrospective summary of Watson's accomplishments there, Bruce Stillman , the laboratory's president, said, "Jim Watson created a research environment that is unparalleled in the world of science." In 2007, Watson said, "I turned against the left wing because they don't like genetics, because genetics implies that sometimes in life we fail because we have bad genes. They want all failure in life to be due to

7524-459: The helix backbones had to be on the outside. From a 2003 piece by Brenda Maddox in Nature : Other comments dismissive of "Rosy" in Watson's book caught the attention of the emerging women's movement in the late 1960s. "Clearly Rosy had to go or be put in her place ... Unfortunately Maurice could not see any decent way to give Rosy the boot". And, "Certainly a bad way to go out into the foulness of

7638-499: The laboratory work of discovery, should have shared the prize with him as well. In fairness, he decided to give half of his prize money to Best. Macleod on his part felt the biochemist James Collip , who joined the laboratory team later, deserved to be included in the award and shared his prize money with him. Some maintain that Nicolae Paulescu , a Romanian professor of physiology at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest ,

7752-530: The laureate and a citation as to why they received the prize. At the awards ceremony, the laureate is given a document indicating the award sum. The amount of the cash award may differ from year to year, based on the funding available from the Nobel Foundation . For example, in 2009 the total cash awarded was 10 million SEK (US$ 1.4 million), but in 2012, the amount was 8 million Swedish Krona, or US$ 1.1 million. If there are two laureates in

7866-536: The leaders of this new " Phage Group ", an important movement of geneticists from experimental systems such as Drosophila towards microbial genetics. Early in 1948, Watson began his PhD research in Luria's laboratory at Indiana University. That spring, he met Delbrück first in Luria's apartment and again that summer during Watson's first trip to the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL). The Phage Group

7980-478: The lecture. "You've never heard of an English lover. Only an English Patient ." He has also said that stereotypes associated with racial and ethnic groups have a genetic basis: Jews being intelligent, Chinese being intelligent but not creative because of selection for conformity, and Indians being servile because of selection under caste endogamy. Regarding intelligence differences between blacks and whites, Watson has asserted that "all our social policies are based on

8094-463: The medal depicts the 'Genius of Medicine holding an open book in her lap, collecting the water pouring out from a rock in order to quench a sick girl's thirst'. It is inscribed " Inventas vitam iuvat excoluisse per artes " ("It is beneficial to have improved (human) life through discovered arts") an adaptation of " inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes " from line 663 from book 6 of the Aeneid by

8208-469: The metabolism of glucose , important in many aspects of medicine, including treatment of diabetes . The most recent Nobel prize was announced by the Karolinska Institute on 7 October 2024, and has been awarded to Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun , for their discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation. The prize consists of a medal along with a diploma and

8322-475: The model of the structure of DNA. The Cambridge University student newspaper Varsity ran its own short article on the discovery on Saturday, May 30, 1953. Watson subsequently presented a paper on the double-helical structure of DNA at the 18th Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on Viruses in early June 1953, six weeks after the publication of the Watson and Crick paper in Nature . Many at the meeting had not yet heard of

8436-538: The molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material". Watson earned degrees at the University of Chicago ( BS , 1947) and Indiana University (PhD, 1950). Following a post-doctoral year at the University of Copenhagen with Herman Kalckar and Ole Maaløe, Watson worked at the University of Cambridge 's Cavendish Laboratory in England, where he first met his future collaborator Francis Crick . From 1956 to 1976, Watson

8550-503: The newly labeled molecules as DNA. Watson never developed a constructive interaction with Kalckar, but he did accompany Kalckar to a meeting in Italy, where Watson saw Maurice Wilkins talk about X-ray diffraction data for DNA. Watson was now certain that DNA had a definite molecular structure that could be elucidated. In 1951, the chemist Linus Pauling in California published his model of

8664-837: The normal and unremarkable forms of address, beginning with "Dear Jim", and concluding with "Best Wishes, Yours, Rosalind". Each of the scientists published their own unique contributions to the discovery of the structure of DNA in separate articles, and all of the contributors published their findings in the same volume of Nature . These classic molecular biology papers are identified as: Watson J. D. and Crick F. H. C. "A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid". Nature 171, 737–738 (1953); Wilkins M. H. F., Stokes A. R. & Wilson H. R. "Molecular Structure of Deoxypentose Nucleic Acids". Nature 171, 738–740 (1953); Franklin R. and Gosling R. G. "Molecular Configuration in Sodium Thymonucleate". Nature 171, 740–741 (1953). In 1956, Watson accepted

8778-478: The organism and thereby has laid the foundation for successful research on this disease and methods of combating it". He identified the mosquito as the transmitter of malaria, and worked tirelessly on measures to prevent malaria worldwide. The 1903 prize was awarded to Niels Ryberg Finsen , the first Faroese laureate, "in recognition of his contribution to the treatment of diseases, especially lupus vulgaris , with concentrated light radiation , whereby he has opened

8892-462: The popular and scientific press for his "misogynist treatment" of Franklin and his failure to properly attribute her work on DNA. According to one critic, Watson's portrayal of Franklin in The Double Helix was negative, giving the impression that she was Wilkins' assistant and was unable to interpret her own DNA data. Watson's accusation was indefensible since Franklin told Crick and Watson that

9006-583: The prize for their development of the polio vaccines , but instead the award went to John Enders , Thomas Weller , and Frederick Robbins whose basic discovery that the polio virus could reproduce in monkey cells in laboratory preparations made the vaccines possible. Through the 1930s, there were frequent prize laureates in classical physiology , but after that, the field began fragmenting into specialities. The last classical physiology laureates were John Eccles , Alan Hodgkin , and Andrew Huxley in 1963 for their findings regarding "unitary electrical events in

9120-475: The problem is that DNA can undergo conformational changes that distort the classical double helix. The resulting variations alter the presentation of DNA bases to proteins molecules and thus affect the recognition mechanism. As distortions in the double helix are themselves are dependent on base sequence, proteins are able to recognize DNA in a manner similar to the way that they recognize other proteins and small ligand molecules, i.e. via geometric shape (instead of

9234-470: The project and the book was commercially published. In an interview with Anne Sayre for her book, Rosalind Franklin and DNA (published in 1975 and reissued in 2000), Francis Crick said that he regarded Watson's book as a "contemptible pack of damned nonsense". In 1968, Watson became the director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL). Between 1970 and 1972, the Watsons' two sons were born, and by 1974,

9348-415: The restriction results in a cut-off point of three nominees per prize, leading to controversial exclusions. There have been nine years in which the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was not awarded (1915–1918, 1921, 1925, 1940–1942). Most of these occurred during either World War I (1914–1918) or World War II (1939–1945). In 1939, Nazi Germany forbade Gerhard Domagk from accepting his prize. He

9462-630: The second person to publish his fully sequenced genome online, after it was presented to him on May 31, 2007, by 454 Life Sciences Corporation in collaboration with scientists at the Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine . Watson was quoted as saying, "I am putting my genome sequence on line to encourage the development of an era of personalized medicine , in which information contained in our genomes can be used to identify and prevent disease and to create individualized medical therapies". In 2014, Watson published

9576-415: The significance of a discovery to become apparent. In 2011, Canadian immunologist Ralph M. Steinman was awarded the prize; however, unbeknownst to the committee, he had died three days before the announcement. The committee decided that since the prize was awarded "in good faith," it would be allowed to stand. Some of the awards have been controversial. The person who was deserving of the 1923 prize for

9690-407: The specific sequence). For example, stretches of A and T bases can lead to narrowing the minor groove of DNA (the narrower of the two grooves in the double helix), resulting in enhanced local negative electrostatic potentials which in turn creates binding sites for positively charged arginine amino-acid residues on the protein. This non-Watson–Crick base-pairing allows the third strands to wind around

9804-549: The story of the discovery of the structure of DNA, as well as the personalities, conflicts and controversy surrounding their work, and includes many of his private emotional impressions at the time. Watson's original title was to have been "Honest Jim". Controversy surrounded the publication of the book. Watson's book was originally to be published by the Harvard University Press , but Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, among others, objected. Watson's home university dropped

9918-607: The structure of DNA. That summer, Luria met John Kendrew , and he arranged for a new postdoctoral research project for Watson in England. In 1951 Watson visited the Stazione Zoologica 'Anton Dohrn' in Naples . In mid-March 1953, Watson and Crick deduced the double helix structure of DNA. Crucial to their discovery were the experimental data collected at King's College London —mainly by Rosalind Franklin for which they did not provide proper attribution. Sir Lawrence Bragg ,

10032-436: The structure of the DNA molecule was known; she was not awarded the prize until 1983. Similarly, in 1916 Peyton Rous discovered the role of tumor viruses in chickens, but was not awarded the prize until 50 years later, in 1966. Nobel laureate Carol Greider 's research leading to the prize was conducted over 20 years before. She noted that the passage of time is an advantage in the medical sciences, as it may take many years for

10146-464: The study of ornithology to genetics . Watson earned his BS degree in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1947. In his autobiography, Avoid Boring People , Watson described the University of Chicago as an "idyllic academic institution where he was instilled with the capacity for critical thought and an ethical compulsion not to suffer fools who impeded his search for truth", in contrast to his description of later experiences. In 1947 Watson left

10260-492: The time, they were working at Oxford University 's chemistry department. All were impressed by the new DNA model, especially Brenner, who subsequently worked with Crick at Cambridge in the Cavendish Laboratory and the new Laboratory of Molecular Biology . According to the late Beryl Oughton, later Rimmer, they all travelled together in two cars once Dorothy Hodgkin announced to them that they were off to Cambridge to see

10374-468: The two sugar-phosphate backbones being on the outside of the molecule. Franklin told Crick and Watson that the backbones had to be on the outside; before then, Linus Pauling and Watson and Crick had erroneous models with the chains inside and the bases pointing outwards. Her identification of the space group for DNA crystals revealed to Crick that the two DNA strands were antiparallel . The X-ray diffraction images collected by Gosling and Franklin provided

10488-484: The understanding and ability to diagnose and treat cancers, neurological diseases, and other causes of human suffering." CSHL substantially expanded both its research and its science educational programs under Watson's direction. He is credited with "transforming a small facility into one of the world's great education and research institutions. Initiating a program to study the cause of human cancer, scientists under his direction have made major contributions to understanding

10602-478: The world, professors of medicine in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Finland, as well as professors of selected universities and research institutions in other countries. Past Nobel laureates may also nominate. Until 1977, all professors of Karolinska Institute together decided on the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. That year, changes in Swedish law forced the institute to make public any documents pertaining to

10716-404: The young family made Cold Spring Harbor their permanent residence. Watson served as the laboratory's director and president for about 35 years, and later he assumed the role of chancellor and then chancellor emeritus. In his roles as director, president, and chancellor, Watson led CSHL to articulate its present-day mission, "dedication to exploring molecular biology and genetics in order to advance

10830-527: Was Molecular Biology of the Cell , in which he coordinated the work of a group of scientist-writers. His third was Recombinant DNA , which described the ways in which genetic engineering has brought new information about how organisms function. In 1968, Watson wrote The Double Helix , listed by the board of the Modern Library as number seven in their list of 100 Best Nonfiction books. The book details

10944-523: Was born on 21 October 1833 in Stockholm , Sweden, into a family of engineers. He was a chemist, engineer and inventor who amassed a fortune during his lifetime, most of it from his 355 inventions, of which dynamite is the most famous. He was interested in experimental physiology and set up his own labs in France and Italy to conduct experiments in blood transfusions. Keeping abreast of scientific findings, he

11058-449: Was contested, it was not approved by the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) until 26 April 1897. After Nobel's death, the Nobel Foundation was set up to manage the assets of the bequest. In 1900, the Nobel Foundation's newly created statutes were promulgated by Swedish King Oscar II . According to Nobel's will, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, a medical school and research centre,

11172-510: Was generous in his donations to Ivan Pavlov 's laboratory in Russia and was optimistic about the progress resulting from scientific discoveries made in laboratories. In 1888, Nobel was surprised to read his own obituary, titled "The merchant of death is dead", in a French newspaper. As it happened, it was Nobel's brother Ludvig who had died, but Nobel, unhappy with the content of the obituary and concerned that his legacy would reflect poorly on him,

11286-510: Was his doctoral advisor. Originally, Watson was drawn into molecular biology by the work of Salvador Luria . Luria eventually shared the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the Luria–Delbrück experiment , which concerned the nature of genetic mutations . He was part of a distributed group of researchers who were making use of the viruses that infect bacteria , called bacteriophages . He and Max Delbrück were among

11400-653: Was immersed in the Spanish Civil War and it seems that the Nobel Board even doubted if he was alive or not, being at the front since almost the beginning of the conflict. Heymans himself recognised the merits of De Castro for the Nobel Prize in different occasions, including a famous talk in Montevideo (Uruguay). In 1949, despite protests from the medical establishment, the Portuguese neurologist António Egas Moniz received

11514-480: Was included in the award. The 1952 prize to Selman Waksman was litigated in court, and half the patent rights were awarded to his co-discoverer Albert Schatz who was not recognised by the prize. Nobel prizes cannot be awarded posthumously. Also, no more than three recipients can receive a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, a limitation that is sometimes discussed because of an increasing trend for larger teams to conduct important scientific projects. Alfred Nobel

11628-408: Was inspired to change his will. In his last will, Nobel requested that his money be used to create a series of prizes for those who confer the "greatest benefit on mankind" in physics , chemistry , peace , physiology or medicine, and literature. Though Nobel wrote several wills during his lifetime, the last was written a little over a year before he died in 1896 at the age of 63. Because his will

11742-711: Was litigation brought by Schatz against Waksman over the details and credit of the streptomycin discovery; Schatz was awarded a substantial settlement, and, together with Waksman, Schatz was to be officially recognised as a co-discoverer of streptomycin as concerned patent rights. He is not a Nobel Prize laureate. The 1962 Prize awarded to James D. Watson , Francis Crick , and Maurice Wilkins —for their work on DNA structure and properties—did not recognise contributing work from others, such as Alec Stokes and Herbert Wilson . In addition, Erwin Chargaff , Oswald Avery , and Rosalind Franklin (whose key DNA x-ray crystallography work

11856-523: Was on the faculty of the Harvard University Biology Department, promoting research in molecular biology. From 1968, Watson served as director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), greatly expanding its level of funding and research. At CSHL, he shifted his research emphasis to the study of cancer, along with making it a world-leading research center in molecular biology. In 1994, he started as president and served for 10 years. He

11970-445: Was one of over 2000 scientists and engineers who spoke out against nuclear proliferation to President Gerald Ford , arguing that there was no proven method for the safe disposal of radioactive waste, and that nuclear plants were a security threat due to the possibility of terrorist theft of plutonium. Watson's first textbook, The Molecular Biology of the Gene , used the concept of heads—brief declarative subheadings. His next textbook

12084-541: Was quoted in 2000, saying: "Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you're not going to hire them." Watson has repeatedly supported genetic screening and genetic engineering in public lectures and interviews, arguing that stupidity is a disease and the "really stupid" bottom 10% of people should be cured. He has also suggested that beauty could be genetically engineered, saying in 2003, "People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty. I think it would be great." In 2007, Watson became

12198-502: Was that my father didn't believe in God." By age 11, Watson stopped attending mass and embraced the "pursuit of scientific and humanistic knowledge." Watson grew up on the South Side of Chicago and attended public schools, including Horace Mann Elementary School and South Shore High School . He was fascinated with bird watching, a hobby shared with his father, so he considered majoring in ornithology . Watson appeared on Quiz Kids ,

12312-474: Was that the idea was neither new nor worthy of merit, and that The Lancet published Watson's paper only because of his name. Other scientists have expressed their support for his hypothesis and have proposed that it can also be expanded to why a lack of oxidants can result in cancer and its progression. In 2014, Watson sold his Nobel Prize medal to raise money after complaining of being made an "unperson" following controversial statements he had made. Part of

12426-413: Was the first to isolate insulin, in 1916, although his pancrein was an impure aqueous extract unfit for human treatment similar to the one used previously by Israel Kleiner. When Banting published the paper that brought him the Nobel, Paulescu already held a patent for his discovery (10 April 1922, patent no. 6254 (8322) "Pancreina şi procedeul fabricaţiei ei"/"Pancrein and the process of making it", from

12540-418: Was the intellectual medium where Watson became a working scientist. Importantly, the members of the Phage Group sensed that they were on the path to discovering the physical nature of the gene . In 1949, Watson took a course with Felix Haurowitz that included the conventional view of that time: that genes were proteins and able to replicate themselves. The other major molecular component of chromosomes , DNA,

12654-430: Was the most detailed yet least acknowledged among the three) contributed directly to the ability of Watson and Crick to solve the structure of the DNA molecule. Avery died in 1955, Franklin died in 1958 and posthumous nominations for the Nobel Prize are not permitted. Files of Nobel Prize nominations show Franklin was not nominated when she was alive. As a result of Watson's misrepresentations of Franklin and her role in

12768-418: Was then appointed chancellor, serving until he resigned in 2007 after making comments claiming that there is a genetic link between intelligence and race . In 2019, following the broadcast of a documentary in which Watson reiterated these views on race and genetics, CSHL revoked his honorary titles and severed all ties with him. Watson has written many science books, including the textbook Molecular Biology of

12882-540: Was to promote science, not racism, but some UK venues canceled his appearances, and he canceled the rest of his tour. An editorial in Nature said that his remarks were "beyond the pale" but expressed a wish that the tour had not been canceled so that Watson would have had to face his critics in person, encouraging scientific discussion on the matter. Because of the controversy, the board of trustees at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory suspended Watson's administrative responsibilities. Watson issued an apology, then retired at

12996-556: Was widely considered to be a "stupid tetranucleotide", serving only a structural role to support the proteins. Even at this early time, Watson, under the influence of the Phage Group, was aware of the Avery–MacLeod–McCarty experiment , which suggested that DNA was the genetic molecule. Watson's research project involved using X-rays to inactivate bacterial viruses. Watson then went to Copenhagen University in September 1950 for

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