I saw Watson at a conference in CSHL while he was still not canceled* and giving the opening speech. Dude spent like 15 minutes rambling about random crap and talking shit about people who had been dead for 20+ years, like absolutely trashing random dead guys no one under 50 had ever heard of (except of course Franklin, though I hear he now refuses to talk about ‘her’ or have ‘her’ mentioned). Everyone in the audience was just looking at each other completely dumbfounded, not believing this was real. Then everyone pretended this not happened, did the nominal clapping and moved on to the conference proper. Incredible moment.

*although these were simpler times when cancellation wasn’t a thing, he still had quite a ‘reputation’ and constantly had to be accompanied by an aide who’d brief him on what ‘not to say’ in public, only to silently gnash their teeth when he’d inevitably slip up.

Molecular Biology of the Gene, for those curious.

his wikipedia page is kind of hilarious btw

At a conference in 2000, Watson suggested a link between skin color and sex drive, hypothesizing that dark-skinned people have stronger libidos.[68][94] His lecture argued that extracts of melanin – which gives skin its color – had been found to boost subjects’ sex drive. “That’s why you have Latin lovers,” he said, according to people who attended the lecture. “You’ve never heard of an English lover. Only an English Patient.”[95] He has also said that stereotypes associated with racial and ethnic groups have a genetic basis: Jews being intelligent, Chinese being intelligent but not creative because of selection for conformity.[96]

Watson has repeatedly asserted that differences in average measured IQ between blacks and whites are due to genetics.[97][98][99] In early October 2007, he was interviewed by Charlotte Hunt-Grubbe at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL). He discussed his view that Africans are less intelligent than Westerners.[100][101][102] Watson said his intention was to promote science, not racism, but some UK venues canceled his appearances,[103] and he canceled the rest of his tour.[104][105][106][107]. An editorial in Nature said that his remarks were “beyond the pale” but expressed a wish that the tour had not been canceled so that Watson would have had to face his critics in person, encouraging scientific discussion on the matter. Because of the controversy, the Board of Trustees at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory suspended Watson’s administrative responsibilities.[109] Watson issued an apology,[110] then retired at the age of 79 from CSHL from what the lab called “nearly 40 years of distinguished service”.[62][111] Watson attributed his retirement to his age and to circumstances that he could never have anticipated or desired.[112][113][114]

In 2008, Watson was appointed chancellor emeritus of CSHL.[115][116] In a BBC documentary that year, Watson said he did not see himself as a racist.[117] As of 2009, he continued to advise and guide project work at the laboratory.[118]

In January 2019, following the broadcast of a television documentary made the previous year in which he repeated his views about race and genetics, CSHL revoked honorary titles that it had awarded to Watson and cut all remaining ties with him.[119][120][121] Watson did not respond to the developments, having been ill since a car accident in October 2018.[122]

I can just imagine CSHL chucking out all a bunch of portraits they had of him. “James Watson? Never heard of him.”

Watson has had disagreements with Craig Venter regarding his use of EST fragments while Venter worked at NIH. Venter went on to found Celera genomics and continued his feud with Watson. Watson was quoted as calling Venter “Hitler”.[91]

lmao

In the epilogue to the memoir Avoid Boring People, Watson alternately attacks and defends former Harvard University president Lawrence Summers, who stepped down in 2006 due in part to his remarks about women and science. Watson also states in the epilogue, “Anyone sincerely interested in understanding the imbalance in the representation of men and women in science must reasonably be prepared at least to consider the extent to which nature may figure, even with the clear evidence that nurture is strongly implicated.”[70]

i kinda want to read this now

Quick! To the Birdmobile! (/u/stairway-to-Kevin)

Something similar happened to me in a canadian college. My biology text book literally had the multiregion hypothesis as a reason for different races.

I guess Lysenko might have been right about Weissmanism-Morganism.

weird post

[removed]

Oh poor you. Watson together with Crick (whose views would probably make you pee yourself again) won the Nobel Prize.

And please, no bullshit about Rosalind Franklin. She was on record as completely opposed to helical models. This was covered years ago in Discover magazine.