James Watson#
| Sadly, this member passed away. | |
| Membership Number: | 1870 |
| Membership type: | FOREIGN |
| Section: | CELL & DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY |
| Elected: | 1998 |
| Main Country of Residence: | UNITED STATES |
| Homepage(s): | http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1962/watson-bio.html |
James Watson passed away November 6, 2025.
Positions Held
- 1961 Professor at the Harvard Biology Department
- 1958 Associate Professor at the Harvard Biology Department
- 1956 Assistant Professor at the Harvard Biology Department
- 1953 - 1955 Senior Research Fellow in Biology at the California Institute of Technology
- 1950 - 1951 Merck Fellow of the National Research Council in Copenhagen
- 1950 Ph.D. in Zoology at University in Bloomington
Fields of Scholarship
- Ecology
- Classical biology
- Physiology
- Double helix structure of DNA
- Developmental biology
- Taxonomy
- Molecular biology
Honours and Awards
- 1959 Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry
- 1960 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
- 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1977 Presidential Medal of Freedom
- 1985 EMBO Membership
- 1986 Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement
- 1993 Copley Medal of the Royal Society
- 1997 National Medal of Science
- 2000 Liberty Medal
- 2001 Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Sciences
- 2002 Gairdner Foundation International Award
- 2002 Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE)
- 2005 Honorary Member of Royal Irish Academy
- 2005 Othmer Gold Medal
- 2008 CSHL Double Helix Medal Honoree
- 2010 Honorary Fellow, the Hastings Center, an independent bioethics research institution
- 2011 Irish America Hall of Fame, inducted March 2011
- 2011 John J. Carty Award in molecular biology from the National Academy of Sciences
- Honorary degrees
- DSc, University of Chicago, US, 1961
- DSc, Indiana University, US, 1963
- LLD, University of Notre Dame, US, 1965
- DSc, Long Island University (CW Post), US, 1970
- DSc, Adelphi University, US, 1972
- DSc, Brandeis University, US, 1973
- DSc, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, US, 1974
- DSc, Hofstra University, US, 1976
- DSc, Harvard University, US, 1978
- DSc, Rockefeller University, US, 1980
- DSc, Clarkson College of Technology, US, 1981
- DSc, Rutgers University, US, 1988
- DSc, Bard College, US, 1991
- DSc, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, 1993
- DSc, Fairfield University, US, 1993
- DSc, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1993
- DrHC, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, 1998
- ScD, University of Dublin, Ireland, 2001
- Professional and honorary affiliations
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- American Association for Cancer Research
- American Philosophical Society
- American Society of Biological Chemists
- Athenaeum Club, London, member
- Cambridge University, Honorary Fellow, Clare College, Cambridge
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Chancellor Emeritus; Honorary Trustee; Oliver R. Grace Professor Emeritus
- European Molecular Biology Organization, member since 1985
- National Academy of Sciences
- Oxford University, Newton-Abraham Visiting Professor
- Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
- Royal Society, Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) since 1981
- Russian Academy of Sciences
