DNA Structure Co-Discoverer James Watson Dead at 97

Molecular biologist James Watson died at a hospice in East Northport, New York, on Thursday. He was 97.

Watson's death was confirmed by his son, Duncan, who said his father had been transferred to the hospice from a hospital after being treated for an infection, according to The New York Times.

The scientist shot to fame in 1953, when he co-discovered the double-helix structure of DNA alongside Francis Crick, and the pair -- as well as Maurice Wilkins -- were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology nine years later for their work.

Watson eventually became the first director of the Human Genome Project, and he also served as the director and chancellor of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he worked for almost 40 years.

Watson garnered controversy later in his career for making disparaging remarks about the intelligence of Black people in an interview with The Sunday Times of London in 2007.

He eventually sold his Nobel Prize medal in 2014 for $4.1 million to support both his family and various research initiatives, and the medal's buyer, Alisher Usmanov, ended up returning it to him.