Dr James Watson, the co-discoverer
of DNA, resigned from his position as chancellor at
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory after comments he made
implying that black people are genetically inferior
to whites caused a furor in the scientific community.
In the middle of a promotional
tour for his new book Avoid Boring People: Lessons
from a Life in Science, the 79 year-old geneticist
and Nobel laureate — who ironically will likely
never be called boring again — made inflammatory
comments in the October 14 edition of the Sunday
Times Magazine while he was in Britain.
In the interview, Dr Watson said
he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa...
All our social policies are based on the fact that their
intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all
the testing says not really."
Though Dr Watson retracted his
comments five days later, saying he apologized "unreservedly,"
they had already caused seemingly irreparable damage
to the science icon's reputation.
The Science Museum in London and
the University of Edinburgh promptly removed him from
their appearance schedules. Dr Watson cancelled his
remaining appearances and returned to the US.
Furthermore, he was suspended from
his administrative responsibilities as chancellor at
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, which led
him to resign after nearly 40 years of service. Dr Watson
co-discovered "the secret of life," DNA, with Francis
Crick in 1953. The pair shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology
and Medicine with Maurice Wilkins in 1962.
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