James Watson

James D Watson death bed confession.

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• published: 02 Dec 2012
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"There is a story going around that I stole the X-ray photo of the structure of DNA from the King lab of Franklin. Actually, it was Maurine Wilkins who stole Franklin's DNA notes and the DNA X-ray photo from that drawer. I should have never been shown that photo, because it was stolen. But, hey, I had the photo. So no one else knew we had this stolen stuff. We tried to figure out what it was. After a month we realized it was a helix. Plus we were scared someone would realize it was stolen. So we waited a month, so the trail would be cool, and later we published the structure we saw in the stolen photo. It was the key to us figuring out the 3-D structure of DNA. We had no idea what we were doing, before we stole the X-ray photo. And we became, like you know, famous. Hey, Franklin was dead. So what if I had never even written a paper on DNA before. We stole the data and then we published it. Nixon did worse crimes than we did. It is not like we were the first people to steal anything big." It made my mother proud of me." Sorry Mom. It was all stolen glory. I have lived a lie for 50 years." I am sorry for what we did." James D Watson, speaking at the Harvard inauguration of the Genome Center, openly confessing to stealing the DNA data from a dying researcher, his same age. Harvard Sep 30, 1999 In 1953 Watson stole the DNA files of Rosalind Franklin, and for doing so, Watson won the Nobel Prize for Science in 1962? Franklin sets out to examine DNA using X-ray crystallography. With this technique a crystal is exposed to x-rays in order to produce a diffraction pattern. it is possible to reconstruct the positions of the atoms in the molecules that comprise the basic unit of the crystal called the unit cell. 1948 Pauling diagrams Alpha Helix on paper & then folds the paper to realize how DNA structure has 2 strands. Pauling sends copies of his diagram to Franklin in London. Watson is now age 18 living on a farm in Indiana & picking his nose. 1949 Franklin proves Pauling was right by taking a photo of the Alpha Helix, using an X-ray. Watson is now thinking of going to college. 1950 A chemist by training, Franklin had established herself as a world expert in the structure of graphite and other carbon compounds before she moved to London. 1951 Franklin works for John Randall at King's College in London. Wilkins and Franklin set out to examine DNA using X-ray crystallography. With this technique a crystal is exposed to x-rays in order to produce a diffraction pattern. If the crystal is pure enough and the diffraction pattern is acquired very carefully, it is possible to reconstruct the positions of the atoms in the molecules that comprise the basic unit of the crystal called the unit cell. Because Franklin is using X-rays to examine the structure of graphite, she develops breast cancer from the X-ray machine. Watson never developed cancer, because Watson never did any research. Nothing! 1951 Franklin speaks for Randall at a DNA conference in London and details Pauling's theory, using the letter & diagram from Pauling. Later Franklin is given a cancer diagnosis. 1952 State Department denies Pauling a passport & bans Pauling from traveling to a major DNA science conference where Pauling was suppose to present his DNA research & compare notes with Franklin. Watson now age 22, still not able to shave, earns a PhD in Zoology, studying birds, in a farm town in Indiana & gets drunk. Watson has still never even heard of crystalline photography. Watson meets his new drinking buddy, Francis Crook in London. They finagle their way into a large lab building, where Jerry Donohue & Franklin have labs. Jerry Donohue wrote in 1976 'Let's face it if the fates hadn't ordained that I share an office with Watson and Crick in 1953 they'd still be puttering around trying to pair like-with-likeenol forms of the bases'. Watson now has keys to the front door of the lab. 1953 Watson hears Franklin is in the hospital, in a coma, dying of cancer, so Watson does what any "hungry" 23 yearold American science researcher would do, Watson, sneaks down the hall one Sunday and does a Watergate style break-in of Franklin's lab. Watson is now age 23 & a cunning drunk in London, steals Franklin's 7 years of research files. Franklin in hospital, in a coma, so Maurice Wilkins steals the DNA photo from Franklins lab, shows it to a local alcoholic Francis Crook & Watson at a London Pub near the lab. 1958 Franklin died & the coverup began, re-writing the whole history of the break-in & thefts. "Thieves write history." ---Napoleon 1962 Nobel Committee gives Watson, Crook & Wilkin the Nobel Prize in Science.