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Scientist who discovered DNA forced to sell his Nobel prize after being shunned for inflammatory race comments

By Stephanie Linning for MailOnline

Published: 04:05 EDT, 29 November 2014 | Updated: 08:17 EDT, 29 November 2014 Shunned: James Watson (pictured) sparked an outcry when he suggested that people of African descent were less intelligent than white people

A scientist who was part of the team that discovered DNA has been forced to sell his Nobel Prize after he was shunned by the scientific community for comments that linked race and intelligence.

James Watson sparked an outcry in 2007 when he suggested in an interview with the Sunday Times that people of African descent were inherently less intelligent than white people.

The American scientist said he had become an 'unperson' since making the controversial remarks and is now selling his prize in a bid to 're-enter public life'.

The medal, the first to be auctioned by a living recipient, is expected to fetch as much as £2.5million when it goes under the hammer at Christie's in New York next week.

Dr Watson shared the 1962 Nobel Prize, awarded for uncovering the double helix structure of DNA, with British scientists Maurice Wilkins and Francis Crick. The discovery was made by Watson and Crick, who used experimental data that had been gathered by Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin.

Dr Watson, 86, said that he was fired from the boards of a number of companies after making the inflammatory race comments, adding that he has not given any public lectures since.

He told the Financial Times: 'No one really wants to admit I exist'.

He said he would use the money from the sale of the medal to supplement his income, which now comes solely from academic institutions.

Dr Watson added that he would use some of the proceeds to give back to institutions that have supported him, including the University of Chicago, where he was awarded his undergraduate degree, and Clare College, Cambridge.




He revealed that he would also like to buy an artwork, telling the newspaper that he would like to own a piece by David Hockney.

He admitted that the comments had been 'stupid' on his part, and insisted he is not racist 'in a conventional way'.

He said: 'I apologise ... (the journalist) somehow wrote that I worried about the people in Africa because of their low IQ - and you're not supposed to say that.' Pioneers: Dr Watson (left) shared the 1962 Nobel Prize, awarded for uncovering the double helix structure of DNA, with British scientists Maurice Wilkins and Francis Crick (right) Esteemed: Dr Watson, now 86, is seen right accepting the Nobel Prize. His award (left) is the first to be auctioned by a living recipient and is expected to fetch as much as £2.5million when it goes under the hammer

Auctioneer Francis Wahlgren told the Financial Times he did not expect Dr Watson's previous remarks to affect the sale.

He said: 'There are a lot of personalities in history we'd find fault with - but their discoveries transcend human foibles.'

The auction includes papers belonging to Watson, including handwritten notes for his acceptance speech. Courting controversy: Dr Watson's views were also expressed in a book, Avoid Boring People: Lessons from a Life in Science, that was published in 2007

In an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine on 14 October 2007, Dr Watson was quoted as saying he is 'gloomy about the prospect of Africa' because '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 said he hoped everyone was equal, but added: 'People who have to deal with black employees find this not true.'

The views were also included in a book, published that week, in which he wrote that 'there is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically'.

He said: 'Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so.'

Four days later, the scientist was banned from speaking at London's Science Museum.

At the time, a spokkesman said: 'The Science Museum feels that Nobel Prize winner James Watson's recent comments have gone beyond the point of acceptable debate.'

Days later, the scientist attempted to justify his theory that there is a genetic basis behind differences in IQ.

He told The Independent: 'I have never been one to shy away from stating what I believe to be the truth'. He added, 'this has, at times, got me in hot water.'

That week, Dr Watson was forced to cancel a book tour of the UK and fly back to the US after he was suspended by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Long Island.

Since the race row erupted, Dr Watson claimed that he was fired from the boards of a number of companies.


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