Born in Chicago, Illinois, on April 6, 1928, James Watson was an only child and quite intelligent. His father and mother were James D. Watson and Jean Mitchell. Today we know James Watson as a successful scientist, who discovered the structure of DNA. However, it took an endless amount of work to figure this out. During childhood, Watson gained much of his knowledge from the World Almanac and won $100 on "Quiz Kid", a popular radio show. Watson and his father's hobby was birdwatching, so he used that money to buy binoculars. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Attended Horace Mann Grammar School for 8 years and South Shore High School for 2 years. In 1943, Watson entered the University of Chicago, having received scholarship. His main courses of interest were biology, zoology and ornithology. He earned a bachelor's degree in zoology in 1947. During Watson's senior year at the University of Chicago, his interest began to shift toward genetics. He attended Indiana University to receive his Ph.D. in zoology in 1950. In 1951, influenced by geneticists and other scientists in Indiana, he took the opportunity to study more about genetics. Watson first went to Copenhagen, studying bacterial viruses with the biochemist Herman Kalckar and then continued studying with a microbiologist named Ole Maaloe. In the spring of 1951, Watson met Maurice Wilkins while visiting the Naples Zoological Station with Kalckar. Wilkins first showed them the X-ray diffraction pattern of crystalline DNA. Watson subsequently moved his research to the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University in England, where he met Francis Crick, a molecular biologist with the same interest in solving the structure of DNA. Their first attempt in 1951 failed, yet they kept trying. Using X-ray images and the works of Rosalind Franklin, provided by Maurice Wilkins to give them ideas about the structure of DNA, Crick and Watson gained valuable information that supported them in their research. The two worked together and soon came to a conclusion. In 1953, Watson and Crick published the structure of the DNA molecule, a double helix configuration. This discovery to this day is known as one of the greatest scientific discoveries in the world. Scientists had used Franklin's images and work without his permission or knowledge, and four years after his death from ovarian cancer, Watson, along with Crick, Wilkins, and Franklin were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Science. Medicine in 1962. Watson pursued his passion for medicine. sciences by moving to Harvard University in 1955 as a biology teacher for 15 years, conducting research. He later served as director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in 1968. While simultaneously directing the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, he also managed the Human Genome Project from 1988 to 1992. Elizabeth Lewis married Watson in 1968 and gave birth to two sons named Rufus and Duncan . In conclusion, I find it unethical that Franklin's unpublished images and works were used without permission and that she did not receive due recognition, despite having largely contributed to the success of their research. However, the discovery made by Watson and Crick, together with Wilkins, was very valuable. His discoveries have helped scientists broaden their understanding of the concept of genetics. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay Without Watson's contributions to the field of science, information.