Washington: Nobel Prize-winning American scientist James Watson, who co-discovered DNA has been stripped of his honourary titles after repeating racist comments in a documentary.
Watson, who discovered the double-helix structure of DNA alongside Francis Crick in the 1950s based on the work of British chemist Rosalind Franklin, has said in a PBS film that genes cause a difference in intelligence between white and black people in IQ tests, ‘CNN’ reported Monday. The scientist added that while he hoped everyone was equal, ‘people who have to deal with black employees find this is not true’.
The 90-year-old’s comments were labeled ‘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 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.
Watson has not yet issued a comment on the development.
IANS