Racist’ co-discoverer of DNA forced to sell Nobel prize to make ends meet

[Playinghardball]

James Watson, the biologist who was awarded a Nobel Prize for his contribution to the discovery of DNA’s structure, will become the first recipient to sell the medal in his or her lifetime, the Financial Times reports.

The Nobel laureate said that he had no choice but to sell the medal — which auction house Christie’s believes could fetch as much as $3.5 million — because of financial pressures stemming from comments he made about race and intelligence in 2007.

In a 2007 interview with the Sunday Times, Watson claimed that he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really.”

Moreover, while he admitted that everyone wants to believe that all races are born with equal intelligence, anyone “who [has] to deal with black employees [finds] this not true.”

He apologized for his remarks, saying that he was “not racist in a conventional way,” and that the journalist interviewing him “somehow wrote that I worried about people in Africa because of their low IQ — and you’re not supposed to say that.”

The scandal made him a pariah.

More here: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/racist-co-discoverer-of-dna-forced-to-sell-nobel-prize-to-make-ends-meet/

[hlthe2b]

1. Uggh...

just uggh.....

His partner in the Nobel-winning discovery, Francis Crick, died in 2004. I'd have loved to hear what he had to say about Watson's current "theories"....

[Warren Stupidity]

9. Crick was a geniune Great Person who worked ceaselessly until the day he died

to further our understanding of the world.

[hlthe2b]

11. Yes... that is my point...

[Socal31]

2. I had to pawn something during a rough patch.

My face was much more solemn than this guy's. Probably because I didn't quite net out 3.5mil for my collateral.

[hlthe2b]

3. or because you didnt lose everything as a result...

of becoming a racist SOB.

[bravenak]

4. Why is my IQ so high?

Am I not really black? Not african enough? A psychic on tests? What could it be?
Could it be that my IQ went up when I moved from a disadvantaged community to a nearly all white community and we had brand new books, good teachers, useable equiptment, and art department, band, and computer labs and a well funded library?
We still have separate but equal.

In the black schools the books were over a decade old. White schools I was never more than the third person who had used the book, besides spanish. Same exact tests in both places. Wealthier kids got to use updated info, poor kids are expected to take test using old info. Poor kids work from 5 to 10 and then go home and try to do home work, rich kids ride tg bus home or get a ride and just do homework and chill.

It is poverty not race. Sad to see such a smart guy be such a fucking idiot.

[Johnyawl]

16. very true, bravenak...

...quality of education makes an enormous difference in test scores. As does nutrition.
"It is poverty not race." Absolutely.
"Sad to see such a smart guy be such a fucking idiot". It's not unusual to find someone who is brilliant at one thing, and a complete moron on other subjects.

[bravenak]

17. I just feel like smart people should know better.

If he's that much of an idiot and he's smarter than most, the human race is a bunch of idiots. I have always though that we would be the ones to kill us off. If there were Aliens to be racists against, we would come together like butt cheeks to rule over them.

[Archae]

22. Nothing new.

Linus Pauling, a brilliant physicist, thought he was just as smart on nutrition, but he was a blithering idiot.

Jane Goodall was a terrific observer of wild chimpanzees, and really stood our concept of intelligence on it's head when she saw and filmed chimps in the wild making and then using tools, something it was thought only humans did.
But then she decided to weigh in on GMO's, using a book written by a business graduate of the Maharishi Yogi.

[XemaSab]

5. Maybe he should move in with Giuliani

Somewhere far, far away from "those people."

[Schema Thing]

7. Those two and their ilk are "those people" to me, lol.

[nc4bo]

6. In Africa? This would be hilarious if he didnt actually believe that.

In a 2007 interview with the Sunday Times, Watson claimed that he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really.”

I'd love to his highness survive in the same conditions that many Africans live. I don't think he'd be too successful without a lot of help.

yep, he definitely holds a very racist point of view.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. In this case smilies are appropriate

Last edited Sun Nov 30, 2014, 03:35 PM - Edit history (1)

[CJCRANE]

10. Idiot.

He should know better.

He let his prejudice overrule the science.

[Warpy]

12. He was sexist, too

Without the work of Rosalind Franklin's work with X-ray diffraction imaging showing the crude structure of DNA, Watson's work would not have been done. Yet his thanks were not to give her credit, but to assassinate her character, especially after her death at 38 from cancer.

I'm glad he had to sell his medal. He never really deserved it since he and Crick refused to share it with Franklin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Franklin

[daredtowork]

18. +1000

The attitude toward Rosalind Franklin dripped through when I read The Double Helix in college - so disgusting!

While I wouldn't wish poverty on anyone, Watson's "financial pressures" probably relate to living a lifestyle above that of a mere retiree. I'm sure he has a pension of some sort. Therefore I'm not sympathetic. This is showboating over bad credit card debt.

Furthermore, Watson has revealed himself as a shoddy intellectual, unworthy of the Nobel Prize. Perhaps Crick did all the work and Watson stole the credit from more than one person here...?

[arcane1]

26. Good, now I don't have to post my reading experience with that book

I had never heard any of the names before, and only barely knew anything about the history, and I remember thinking he was a sexist jerk in that book

[FLPanhandle]

21. He basically stole her work

She never gave him permission to use it and without it he wouldn't have had that Noble prize.

She was really treated unfairly.

[shenmue]

24. Yeah

Franklin was really cool.

[catrose]

27. and he didn't realize

that his nickname "Honest Jim" was satire.

[magical thyme]

29. +1M. Rosalind Franklin did the groundwork, Watson & Crick took the glory. nt

[abelenkpe]

13. He needs 3.5 million to make ends meet

He's not really a racist



Gee what a horrible injustice

[Journeyman]

14. Who's gonna pay $3.5M for a tainted gewgaw? And I wonder if there's anything in my garage . . .

that I could interest this buying fool into purchasing from me?

[edhopper]

15. What testing and research has shown

is while you can find some variables between groups of people. Say Caucasians and Asians, or Swedes and Moroccans, or Pagans and Buddhists (just to pick some randomly), the variation within the groups are much, much greater than variations between groups, and no one can be judged by whatever group you put them in.

[Marr]

19. Is intelligence at all hereditary?

I've always assumed that the variation from one individual to another is greater than the boost one might expect from having unusually intelligent parents, but I have zero data to back that up. I mean, it seems like what we recognize broadly as "intelligence" is the product of many factors; from social conditioning to temperament to general health and so on.

[Liberal_in_LA]

20. old racist coot

[sadoldgirl]

23. He is not only a racist,

but also a misogynist, who made very derogatory statements about women per se.

It has been strongly rumored as well, that he stole other scientists' ideas from

their grant applications open to his review.

[Odin2005]

25. I hope he is enjoying his bad karma.

[lunasun]

28. Hmmmm somehow did not learn actions have consequences ??

Haters sometimes lose