James Watson, whose co-discovery of DNA's structure brought genetics to the forefront of scientific research, has died. He was 97.

He died Thursday in East Northport on New York's Long Island, The New York Times reported. Citing his son, Duncan, the Times said Watson had been transferred to a hospice last 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 built on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by explaining the mechanics of heredity in the origin of species.

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