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Renowned molecular biologist and one of the Nobel Prize winners for discovering the structure of DNA, John Watson, has died at the age of 97.
International media reports that Watson passed on Thursday after a brief illness, as revealed by his former employer.
Watson’s death was confirmed by a spokesperson with Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory, where he spent the better part of his distinguished career.
Watson won the Nobel Prize in 1962 after making it his mission to figure out what the molecule of life looks like.
He would go on to become the first director of the groundbreaking Human Genome Project and the first living recipient to sell a Nobel Prize, with some of the proceeds channelled to scientific research.
“I think early on, I wanted to do something important with my life. I still want to think about science and really nothing else.
“Being driven by the desire to find the truth, that’s really my legacy. The truth, sometimes you don’t find it and it’s complicated, but what you always have is that if you can start with the truth, it’s helpful,” Watson said to CNN in 2013.
