James Watson: Courageous Scientist

A man who wasn't afraid to speak uncomfortable truths.

Written by Noah Carl.

James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, has died at age 97.

His career was long and distinguished. Aside from making one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century¹, he wrote an influential textbook and a best-selling popular science book, served as director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for quarter of a century, and helped to establish the Human Genome Project. Unsurprisingly, his contributions were honoured with numerous awards and prizes, including the Nobel Prize in 1962 and the Copley Medal in 1993. Watson was considered to be among the greatest scientists of his generation. Until.

In a 2007 interview with the Sunday Times, Watson made the mistake of giving his honest opinion about a controversial subject. Stating that he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa”, he noted that “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really”. He also made the indelicate comment that, although he hoped everyone was equal, “people who have to deal with black employees find this is not true”.

Watson subsequently came out and said he was “mortified” that his remarks had caused offence, but the damage was done. He was suspended as chancellor of Cold Spring Harbor. Forthcoming lectures were cancelled and honorary degrees were revoked. His career was essentially over.²

Despite becoming an “unperson”, in his own words, Watson was allowed to stay on at Cold Spring Harbor as “chancellor emeritus”. Yet even this title was rescinded in 2019, after the airing of a documentary in which Watson stated that his views on race and intelligence had not changed “at all”.

“I would like for them to have changed,” Watson declared. “But I haven’t seen any knowledge. And there’s a difference on the average between blacks and whites on IQ tests. I would say the difference is... it’s genetic.” At this point, any remaining chance of salvaging his reputation was gone.

It’s crucial to note, of course, that Watson’s views on race and intelligence are scientifically defensible. The testing does show large average differences between Africa and Western countries. Meanwhile, surveys of experts working in relevant fields reveal non-trivial or high levels of agreement that genes contribute to psychological group differences. Even Watson’s longtime friend and collaborator, the great Francis Crick, was a closet hereditarian. In a 1971 letter to the biochemist John Edsall, he wrote:

Unlike you and your colleagues I have formed the opinion that there is much substance to Jensen’s arguments. In brief I think it likely that more than half the difference between the average I.Q. of American whites and Negroes is due to genetic reasons, and will not be eliminated by any foreseeable change in the environment.

Long before the 2007 cancellation, Watson had been known for making risqué or provocative remarks. He once told a journalist: “Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad because you know you’re not going to hire them.” And according to biologist David Reich, he once asked him and fellow-biologist Beth Shapiro, “When are you guys going to figure out why it is that you Jews are so much smarter than everyone else?” As Richard Dawkins put it, he took a “perverse delight in shocking people”.

While such comments may not be to everyone’s taste, they show that Watson was not just another boring scientist, obediently conforming to the academy’s increasingly feminised norms. He was a force to be reckoned with. A genuine personality.

Watson’s work on the structure of DNA has certainly earned him a place in history, whatever his (less accomplished) critics might say. But perhaps what he should be remembered for above all is possessing that rarest of qualities: he wasn’t a coward.

Noah Carl is an Editor of Aporia.

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1. Contrary to some revisionist claims, Rosalind Franklin was not the one who discovered the structure of DNA.

2. In 2014, Watson put his Nobel Prize medal up for auction, and it was bought by the Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov. Many people have claimed that he did this because he was destitute, but I have not been able to find any evidence that this is true. Rather, it seems he did it to raise money for the Cold Stream Harbour Laboratory. Interestingly, Usmanov promised to return the medal, stating, “James Watson is one of the greatest biologists in the history of mankind and his award for the discovery of DNA structure must belong to him”.