James Watson, one of the scientists who discovered the structure of DNA, dies

James Watson, who at just 25 years old became one of the scientists who discovered the structure of DNA, has died at the age of 97.

Watson died Thursday (6/11) at a care center in East Northport, New York, on Long Island, said his son Duncan, who said he was transferred there days earlier from a hospital where he was being treated for an infection.

Together with Francis Crick, and thanks to the work of Rosalind Thomas, whose contribution was recognized many years later, Watson showed that DNA has the shape of a double helix. In this way, they deciphered the "book of life", that which is present in every living organism.

Together with Crick, they received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1962. Thomas died prematurely in 1958, only 37 years old, and therefore could not have been recognized.

In addition to his work on DNA, he is known for his work at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, reports the New York Times, which he took over as director in 1968 and transformed into one of the most important microbiology centers in the world when he resigned in 1993.

But there are also controversial points in the work of a man once described as the "Caligula of biology."

In his memoirs, published in 1968, colleagues argued that he overemphasized his own contributions and downplayed their work.

In 2007, he caused a stir when he told the Sunday Times of London that black people are generally not as intelligent as white people. He repeated the same statement in on-camera interviews for a PBS documentary about him.

He immediately denied the statements, but his image was damaged and he later said that his colleagues had abandoned him.

For many years, protests accompanied him in public appearances, as happened in Patras in 2011.