Awards & Winners

James D. Watson

Date of Birth 06-April-1928
Place of Birth Chicago
(Illinois, United States of America, Chicago metropolitan area, Area code 872)
Nationality United States of America
Also know as James Watson, James Dewey Watson, Dr James Watson, Dr. James Watson
Profession Scientist, Physicist, Professor, Geneticist, Molecular Biologist, Biologist, Zoologist, Author
Quotes
  • If we don't play God, who will?
James Dewey Watson, KBE, ForMemRS, is an American molecular biologist, geneticist and zoologist, best known as a co-discoverer of the structure of DNA in 1953 with Francis Crick. Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material". After studies at the University of Chicago and Indiana University, did postdoctoral research to absorb chemistry with the biochemist Herman Kalckar in Copenhagen, Watson worked at the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory in England, where he first met his future collaborator and friend Francis Crick. From 1956 to 1976, Watson 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 on Long Island, New York, 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 was then appointed chancellor, serving until 2007.

Awards by James D. Watson

Check all the awards nominated and won by James D. Watson.

2002


Gairdner Foundation International Award
(For his 50 years of unparalelled contributions to biology and medical science, and in particular for his critical international leadership during the creation of the Human Genome Project.)

1997


National Medal of Science for Biological Sciences
(For five decades of scientific and intellectual leadership in molecular biology, ranging from his co-discovery of the double helical structure of DNA to the launching of the Human Genome Project.)

1993


Copley Medal
(In recognition of his tireless pursuit of DNA, from the elucidation of its structure to the social and medical implications of the sequencing of the human genome.)

1969


Nominations 1969 »

Award Nominated Nominated Work
National Book Award for The Sciences The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA

1965


1962


Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
(for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material)

1960


Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
(For their contribution in revealing the structure of the DNA model.)