Ten fun facts about James Watson
Fact 1
James Watson was born on April 6, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois.
Fact 2
During his undergraduate years, James Watson was primarily interested in the field of ornithology. In 1947 he received a B.Sc. degree in Zoology. He began his doctoral research in 1948 under the direction of the Italian Biologist Salvador Luria.
Fact 3
In 1949 James Watson published one of the landmark papers in phage genetics. In 1950 his PhD thesis was a study of the effect of hard X-rays on bacteriophage multiplication.
Fact 4
He was awarded a National Research Council fellowship grant to investigate the molecular structure of proteins in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Fact 5
From 1951 to 1953 Watson held a research fellowship under the support of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England.
Fact 6
In 1955, James Watson moved on to Harvard University and taught biology till 1976 and conducted research alongside.
Fact 7
James Watson shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins in 1962.
Fact 8
In 1988 his success led to his appointment as the head of the Human Genome Project at the NIH.
Fact 9
James Watson spent most of his professional life as professor, research administrator and public policy spokesman for research.
Fact 10
He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and the Danish Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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