Nobel laureate James Watson passes away; RGCB scientists mourn

The scientific community at the BRIC-RGCB on Saturday mourned the passing of Professor James Watson, Nobel Prize winner and former president of Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory (CSHL), USA.

He was 97. Watson achieved one of the most significant breakthroughs in science by solving the structure of DNA, which laid the foundation for the biotechnology revolution of the late 20th century, Dr T R Santhosh Kumar, Director (Additional Charge), Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, said in his condolence message.

He recalled that during the tenure of late Prof M R Das, founder director of RGCB, Dr Watson visited the institute in January 1999 and interacted with faculty and students.

''He had also delivered a public lecture on 'The implications of classic discovery of the structure of DNA and the importance of biological information transfer starting from the language of DNA','' the RGCB statement said.

James D Watson, whose co-discovery of the twisted-ladder structure of DNA in 1953 helped spark a revolution in medicine, crime-fighting, genealogy, and ethics, has died, according to his former research lab.