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JAMES WATSON

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JAMES WATSON AKA James Dewey Watson Born: 6-Apr - 1928 Birthplace: Chicago, IL Gender: Male Religion: Atheist Race or Ethnicity: White Occupation: Scientist Nationality: United States Executive summary: Co-Discoverer of DNA James Watson was a bright young American who entered the University of Chicago at the age of 15. He was particularly interested in birds, and quickly earned a BS and Ph.D. in zoology, then went to Europe to study genetics. At Cambridge, he met a Brit named Francis Crick , and together with their colleague Maurice Wilkins , they tried to elucidate the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). They felt Linus Pauling , then the world's most famous chemist, was breathing down their necks, and they desperately wanted to solve the DNA riddle before he did. Pauling had already come close, but it was Crick, Watson, and Wilkins who first showed that the collected clues only made sense if DNA were structured like two twisting, spiral ladder