Breaking DNA News: James Watson Resigns

by Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei
Posted October 25, 2007 in Personalities with DNA

About an hour ago, USA Today published excerpts from an email Dr. James Watson sent directly to them announcing his resignation from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory:

This morning I have conveyed to the Trustees of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory my desire to retire immediately from my position as its Chancellor, as well as from my position on its Board, on which I have served for the past 43 years. Closer now to 80 than 79, the passing on of my remaining vestiges of leadership is more than overdue. The circumstances in which this transfer is occurring, however, are not those which I could ever have anticipated or desired.

This week’s events focus me ever more intensely on the moral values passed on to me by my father, whose Watson surname marks his long ago Scots-Irish Appalachian heritage; and by my mother, whose father, Lauchlin Mitchell, came from Glasgow and whose mother, Lizzie Gleason, had parents from Tipperary. To my great advantage, their lives were guided by a faith in reason; an honest application of its messages; and for social justice, especially the need for those on top to help care for the less fortunate. As an educator, I have always striven to see that the fruits of the American Dream are available to all. I have been much blessed.

More about the debacle:

• DNA Auction: African-American Sisters’ Copy of Avoid Boring People by James Watson
• Nobody Likes James Watson

Update: The full letter is available at GenomeWeb.

Tags: james watson, cold spring harbor, genetics, genes, dna

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