This is a Biography of James Watson's life. This presentation contains the facts about James Watson's life, from where did he get his education, his awards, his family, the books he wrote and etc.

1. JAMES WATSON
MADE BY: M. ASHARAB IRFAN
CLASS: 8Q

2. BASIC FACTS ABOUT JAMES WATSONS LIFE
• DATE OF BIRTH:
JAMES WATSON WAS BORN ON 6TH APRIL 1928 IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES. HIS
FATHER WAS A TAX COLLECTOR OF SCOTTISH ANCESTRY HE ALSO LOVED BIRD WATCHING WITH HIS
FATHER. JAMES FATHER DID NOT BELIEVE IN GOD, JAMES ALSO SAID THAT THE LUCKIEST THING THAT
HAPPENED TO ME IS THAT MY FATHER DID NOT BELIEVE IN GOD.

3. HIS EARLY LIFE
• JAMES WATSON GREW UP ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO AND ATTENDED PUBLIC SCHOOLS
WHICH WERE THE HORACE MANN GRAMMAR SCHOOL AND THE SOUTH SHORE GRAMMAR
SCHOOL. HE WAS FASCINATED WITH BIRD WATCHING. HE ALSO APPEARED ON A FAMOUS RADIO
SHOW “QUIZ KIDS” AT THE AGE OF 12 IN THE YEAR 1940. THE SHOW CHALLENGED THE BRIGHT
LEARNERS TO ANSWER QUESTIONS.
Horace Mann grammar School

4. EDUCATION
• JAMES WATSON THEN ENROLLED INTO THE “UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO” WHERE HE WAS
AWARDED A TUITION SCHOLARSHIP AT JUST THE AGE OF 15. HE CHANGED HIS PROFESSIONAL
AMBITIONS FROM THE STUDY OF ORNITHOLOGY TO GENETICS. HE ALSO EARNED HIS BS DEGREE
IN ZOOLOGY FROM THE “UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO” IN THE YEAR 1947. IN THE SAME YEAR
JAMES WATSON LEFT THE “UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO” TO BECOME A GRADUATE OF THE
INDIANA UNIVERSITY. HE GOT HIS PHD DEGREE IN 1950 IN THE SUBJECT ZOOLOGY, HE GOT HIS
DEGREE FOR HIS WORKS ON THE EFFECT OF THE X-RAY RADIATION ON REPLICATION OF
BACTERIOPHAGE VIRUSES FROM THE INDIANA UNIVERSITY. SALVADOR LURIA WAS HIS DOCTORAL
ADVISOR.
University of ChicagoIndiana University

5. AWARDS
• 1960: ALBERT LASKER AWARD FOR BASIC MEDICAL RESEARCH: THE ALBERT LASKER AWARD FOR
BASIC MEDICAL RESEARCH IS ONE OF THE PRIZES AWARDED BY THE LASKER FOUNDATION FOR A
FUNDAMENTAL DISCOVERY THAT OPENS UP A NEW AREA OF BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE.
• 1962: NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYCOLOGY OR MEDICINE: THE NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYCOLOGY OR
MEDICINE IS AWARDED BY THE NOBEL FOUNDATION FOR OUTSTANDING DISCOVERIES IN THE FIELDS
OF LIFE SCIENCES AND MEDICINE.

6. • 1965: GUGGENHEIM FELLOWSHIP FOR NATURAL SCIENCES, US & CANADA: THIS AWARD WAS GIVEN TO JAMES
WATSON WITH HIS RESEARCH IN MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY.
• 1971: JOHN J. CARTY AWARD FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE: THE JOHN J. CARTY AWARD FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE IS AWARDED BY THE U.S. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES FOR NOTEWORTHY AND
DISTINGUISHED ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN ANY FIELD OF SCIENCE.
• 1977: PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM: THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM IS A MEDAL WHICH IS AWARDED
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO RECOGNIZE PEOPLE WHO HAVE MADE AN ESPECIALLY
MERITORIOUS CONTRIBUTION TO THE SECURITY OR NATIONAL INTERESTS OF THE UNITED STATES, WORLD PEACE AND
ETC.
• 1985: EMBO MEMBERSHIP: MEMBERSHIP OF THE EUROPEAN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY ORGANIZATION IS AN AWARD
GRANTED BY THE EUROPEAN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY ORGANIZATION IN RECOGNITION OF RESEARCH EXCELLENCE AND
THE OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY A LIFE SCIENTIST.
• 1993: COPLEY MEDAL: THE COPLEY MEDAL IS AN AWARD GIVEN BY THE ROYAL SOCIETY, FOR OUTSTANDING
ACHIEVEMENTS IN RESEARCH IN ANY BRANCH OF SCIENCE. IT ALTERNATES BETWEEN THE PHYSICAL AND THE
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES.
• 1994: LOMONOSOV GOLD MEDAL: THE LOMONOSOV GOLD MEDAL, NAMED AFTER RUSSIAN SCIENTIST AND
POLYMATH MIKHAIL LOMONOSOV, IS AWARDED EACH YEAR SINCE 1959 FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE
NATURAL SCIENCES AND THE HUMANITIES BY THE USSR ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND LATER THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY
OF SCIENCES.

7. FAMILY
• HE WAS THE ONLY SON AND HAD 1 OTHER SIBLING, HIS SISTER ELIZABETH JEAN WATSON, HIS
MOTHER WAS JEAN MITCHELL AND HIS FATHER WAS JAMES D. WATSON
• JAMES ELIZABETH GOT MARRIED IN THE YEAR 1968 TO A WOMAN CALLED ELIZABETH JEAN
WATSON, ELIZABETH WAS 19 WHEN SHE GOT MARRIED WHILE JAMES WAS 39 YEARS OLD. THEY
HAD TWO SONS (RUFUS ROBERT WATSON AND DUNCAN JAMES WATSON)

8. DEATH
• JAMES WATSON DIED ON 28 JULY 2004 AT THE AGE OF 76. HE DID NOT HAVE ANY
COMPLICATIONS.

9. JAMES WATSONS ACHIEVEMENTS
• JAMES WATSON DISCOVERED THE DNA IN THE YEAR 1953. HE SAW THAT THE ESSENTIAL DNA
COMPONENTS (FOUR ORGANIC BASES) MUST BE LINKED IN PAIRS. THIS DISCOVERY WAS THE KEY
FACTOR THAT ENABLED WATSON TO FORMULATE A MOLECULAR MODEL FOR DNA. HE DESCRIBED
THE DNA AS A SPIRALING STAIR CASE OR A TWISTING LADDER. JAMES WATSON WORKED WITH
FRANCIS CRICK AND MAURICE WILKINS TO DISCOVER THE DOUBLE HELIX STRUCTURE OF THE
DNA MOLECULE. THE THREE SCIENTISTS WON THE NOBEL PRIZE IN MEDICINE IN 1962 FOR THEIR
WORK AND EFFORT.

10. BOOKS WRITTEN BY JAMES WATSON
A passion for DNA: Genes,
Genomes and Society
The Double helix Molecular Biology of
the Cell

11. JAMES WATSON’S LIFE
CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER:
• APRIL 6 1928: JAMES WATSON WAS BORN IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES.
• 1940: APPEARED ON A FAMOUS RADIO SHOW “QUIZ KIDS”.
• 1947: WENT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO AT WHEN HE WAS ONLY 15.
• 1947: LEFT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO TO BECOME A GRADUATE FROM THE INDIANA UNIVERSITY.
• 1950: GOT HIS PHD DEGREE FROM THE INDIANA UNIVERSITY IN THE SUBJECT ZOOLOGY, HE STUDIED
THE AFFECTS ON X-RAY RADIATION ON REPLICATION OF BACTERIOPHAGE VIRUSES.
• 1950: HE MOVED TO COPENHAGEN WHERE HE CONTINUED HIS RESEARCH ON THE BACTERIOPHAGE
VIRUSES.
• 1950-1951: IN 1950 JAMES WATSON WENT TO COPENHAGEN (DENMARK) AS A NATIONAL RESEARCH
COUNCIL FELLOW.
• 1951: JAMES WATSON STARTED HIS RESEARCH ON THE DNA IN OCTOBER 1951 AT THE CAVENDISH
LABORATORY IN CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND HE MET THE BIOLOGIST FRANCIS CRICK.
• 1953: DISCOVERED THE DNA.

12. • 1960: HE GOT HE ALBERT LASKER AWARD FOR BASIC MEDICAL RESEARCH.
• 1962: HE GOT THE NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYCOLOGY OR MEDICINE.
• 1965: HE GOT THE GUGGENHEIM FELLOWSHIP FOR NATURAL SCIENCES, US & CANADA.
• 1968: JAMES WATSON GOT MARRIED TO A WOMAN CALLED ELIZABETH WATSON.
• 1968: WATSON BECAME THE DIRECTOR OF THE COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY.
• 1970: THEY HAD THEIR FIRST CHILD, THEY NAMED HIM RUFUS ROBERT WATSON.
• 1971: HE GOT THE JOHN J. CARTY AWARD FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.
• 1972: THEY HAD THEIR SECOND CHILD WHICH THEY NAMED DUNCAN JAMES WATSON
• 1974:THE FAMILY MADE THE COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY THEIR PERMANENT RESIDENCE.
• 1977: HE GOT THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM.
• 1985: HE WAS AWARDED WITH THE EMBO MEMBERSHIP.
• 1988: HE BECAME THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF THE HUMAN GENOME PROJECT FOR THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF
HEALTH
• 1993: HE WAS AWARDED WITH THE COPLEY MEDAL.

13. • 1994: HE GOT THE LOMONOSOV GOLD MEDAL.
• 1997: HE GOT THE NATIONAL MEDAL OF SCIENCE FOR BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES.
• 2002: HE GOT THE CANADA GAIRDNER INTERNATIONAL AWARD.
• 2004: JAMES WATSON DIED ON 28 JULY 2004