CNN – A Nobel Prize-winning American scientist who co-discovered DNA has been stripped of his honorary titles after repeating racist comments in a documentary.
James Watson, who discovered the double-helix structure of DNA alongside Francis Crick in the 1950s based on the work of British chemist Rosalind Franklin, said in a PBS film that genes cause a difference in intelligence between white and black people in IQ tests, CNN reported today.
The 90-year-old’s comments were labelled “reprehensible” by the Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory (CSHL) on New York’s Long Island, where Watson had been the director from 1968 to 1993.
The laboratory said on Sunday that it “unequivocally rejects the unsubstantiated and reckless personal opinions Dr. James D Watson expressed”, noting the statements were “reprehensible (and) unsupported by science”. “The Laboratory condemns the misuse of science to justify prejudice,” it added.
Mr Watson has not yet issued a comment on the development, according to CNN
