James Watson

Biologist, Geneticist, Zoologist (1923-Present)

James Watson, a 23-year-old Chicago-born American, arrived in 1951 at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. Watson had a doctorate in zoology from Indiana University and a bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of Chicago. Working under Salvador E. Luria at Indiana University, Watson there became interested in genetics. He worked on a topic that Luria later received a Nobel Prize for bacteriophages. Later, Watson moved over to Denmark to continue studying viruses for postdoctoral work. In 1951, at a spring conference at the Zoological Station in Naples, Wilkins was overheard by Watson whilst discussing the molecular structure of DNA. Watson also saw the X-ray crystallographic photographs of DNA. Soon afterwards, Watson moved to the Cavendish Laboratory. Here important X-ray crystallographic projects were already in progress. Max Perutz was studying hemoglobin and John Kendrew was investigating myoglobin, both under the leadership of William Lawrence Bragg. Francis Crick, who earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from University College London, was working under Perutz.

James Watson, GeneOnline News