Lecture from a Legend

A couple of days ago, I attended a lecture given by James D. Watson.

That’s right--- the Watson, as in, the Watson-and-Crick Watson; the discovering-the-structure-of-DNA Watson. The same Watson featured in just about every entry-level biology text book in the world. Needless to say, I was ridiculously excited.

watson & crick won the nobel prize in 1962 for determing the
structure of dna.
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The lecture was different than I thought it would be. Rather than speak about the importance of structure in determining function, or ramifications of his work, Watson gave a biography of his own life. He talked about his childhood, his high school experiences, his exposure to science in college, and the string of circumstances leading up to his pivotal work with DNA.  

Throughout his story, two facts became apparent to me:

       1. Watson is incredibly, incredibly focused.

       2. Watson is opinionated to a fault.

james d. watson, 1954
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Focus:

One of the things I admired most about Watson was his incredible focus. He talked about how, as an undergrad, he heard about DNA and became absolutely fascinated. At the time, nearly all biologists assumed that proteins (which are considerably more complicated that DNA) functioned as genetic material, and that DNA was just “junk” that also happened to be in the cell’s nucleus.  For the next several years, Watson chased the study of DNA, moving from a PhD at Indiana University to a post-doc position in Coppenhagen, constantly frustrated that no one else seemed to find DNA nearly as compelling as he did.  Watson’s obsession with the structure of DNA eventually led him to Cambridge, England. While the group he joined wasn’t working on the structure of DNA, they were determining the structure of other macromolecules, and for Watson, that was as close as he was going to get.

He began collaborating with Francis Crick largely because, in Watson’s words, “He was the only person that would bother to listen to me.” Watson also added that, “Francis was definitely brighter than me, but he was a physicist and I was a biologist. Despite being less intelligent, I was far more motivated.”  This really surprised me. In my mind, I had always imagined Watson and Crick as some sort of “dream team,” but the more Watson spoke, the more it became apparent that he was really their driving force. As more and more scientists became involved in the race to solve the puzzle of DNA, it was Watson’s unstoppable focus that ultimately allowed his name to be associated with the infamous structure. When asked why he believed he was the first to unlock the structure, he simply said, "The reason I won is simply because, for many, many, many years, I couldn’t think about anything else.”

watson & crick, as depicted by the 1987 bbc film
the race for the double helix.
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Opinions:

Just as Watson was very frank in admitting his obsession with DNA, he was also very frank in admitting his (rather controversial) personal opinions. He quickly let it be known that he was a devout atheist and strongly doubted the scientific aptitude of anyone who "still believed a God was necessary." Although Watson only hinted at it in his lecture, perhaps his most controversial ideas are his attitudes towards race. This article sums up his views nicely. He is also a strong advocate for genetic screening, arguing that in the future the “really stupid” bottom 10% of people could be eliminated , as well as screens to make people more physically attractive.

watson today, cold springs harbor, new york.
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Advice:

I left Watson’s talk a little perplexed. On the one hand, I greatly admired his incredible drive, focus, and scientific diligence. On the other, I found some of his personal opinions a bit upsetting. Regardless, when he ended his lecture with a few points of advice for all young and upcoming scientists in the crowd, I made sure to jot down his suggestions:

-- james d. watson

Finally: apologies for the science and text-heavy post! less words and more pictures tomorrow :)