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President of
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
http://www.cshl.org/gradschool/jdw.html
As one of the
team who discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, Jim Watson
has lived a life leading scientists in the study of DNA. Since he
and Francis Crick published their
famous
paper
in 1953, Watson has been on the faculty of Harvard University,
served as director and now president of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory,
and was the first director of the Human Genome Project.
In 1968, when Watson took over as director at Cold Spring Harbor,
the laboratory was a much smaller place, but it held a special significance
for him. "It was the place where we all got together and had
serious conversations," he says. He’s been happy to have
had the chance to lead CSHL as it evolved into a top facility for
DNA research. "The study of this information is in some sense
the heart of life," he says. "You needed an institution
that reflected this fact."
Watson has a competitive streak that has helped him attain some
of his success. He and Crick were driven to discover the structure
of the DNA molecule before any other researchers working on the
same project. "The person who first sees something gets a lot
more recognition than the person who sees it second," he notes.
He should know—the double helix structure has garnered him
not only recognition, but a Nobel prize.
Cold Spring Harbor’s president has a reputation for seeking
out unconventional thinking and youthful energy in the people he
chooses to staff the institution. For example,
Bruce
Stillman
, CSHL’s current director, was quite young when
Watson asked him to fill the director’s chair. And some researchers
on the campus say their work is too experimental to be welcomed
in other places. For Watson, seeing that unrealized potential is
key. "All science isn’t equal," he says, adding that
real success comes when you "focus on important problems and
bright people who want to do something important. Just don’t
work on anything dull."
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"The person who first sees
something gets a lot more recognition than the person who sees
it second."
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