By the time James Watson died earlier this month at the age of 97, he was one of the world’s most famous — and infamous — scientists.

In 1953, he and three fellow researchers co-discovered the double-helix structure of DNA — a breakthrough that unlocked the secrets of how life works. The discovery revealed how a molecule could store and copy genetic information, providing a chemical mechanism for heredity, evolution and the immense diversity of life that gave rise to what Charles Darwin famously described as “endless forms most beautiful.”

But Watson’s legacy is complicated by his later history of bigotry and racism, including years of denigrating comments about people of African descent, women and gay people. His views first gained widespread public notice in a 2007 interview when he to

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