James Watson, whose co-discovery of DNA’s structure brought genetics to the forefront of scientific research before his remarks about the intelligence of black people caused public outrage, has died. He was 97.

Watson died on November 6 in East Northport, New York’s Long Island, The New York Times reported on Saturday AEDT. Citing his son, Duncan, the Times said Watson had been transferred to a hospice this week from a hospital where he had been treated for an infection.

As a 24-year-old zoologist, Watson joined Cambridge University researcher Francis Crick in proposing the “double helix” configuration for deoxyribonucleic acid, which holds the genetic information allowing hereditary qualities to pass to the next generation of humans and other organisms. The breakthrough in 1953 buil

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