The career of James Watson, one of the discoverers of the structure of DNA, has not been without controversy, but his contribution to genetics has been huge

Arsenal shareholder Usmanov paid $4.1m but also returned medal

The pioneering scientist, who won his award for discovering the double-helix shape of DNA with Francis Crick, hopes the $4.1m he earned at Christie’s this week will help restore his standing after his controversial ‘black IQ’ remarks

Prize given to US scientist James Watson sold by Christie’s auction house to undisclosed buyer

Prof James Watson says he became an ‘un-person’ after controversial remarks on intelligence in 2007

Prof John O’Keefe will become third Nobel Prize winner to be honoured by UCC

Faster computing power means that decoding work on the human genome can now be done in hours

James Watson proposes radical idea that reactive oxygen blocks disease

Sixty years ago, a research paper brought an obscure scientific world into the public domain and transformed science, medicine and ethics

Interplay between invention and adaptation delivers something new

On April 25th, 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick published one of the greatest biological discoveries of our time. It was so profound that, from solving crimes and finding horse meat in burgers to creating designer babies, we still benefit from – and grapple with – new consequences