James Watson photographed with a reproduction of the DNA double-helix in 1962. | Mondadori via Getty Images

A look back at the esteemed personalities who left us this year, who'd touched us with their innovation, creativity and humanity.

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan. The Associated Press contributed to this gallery.

"If you're going to do science, why not discover something important?" That, James Watson (April 6, 1928-Nov. 6, 2025) told "CBS Sunday Morning" in 2003, was his motivation when, at age 23, he arrived at Cambridge University eager to take on the mysteries of DNA.

A zoologist who'd just earned his Ph.D. in Chicago, Watson teamed up with the brilliant physicist Francis Crick, who was 12 years his senior. As Crick theorized, Watson built models, burning thro

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