James Watson has died

Headline phrasing and article choice

• Several commenters objected to “is dead at 97” as disrespectful; others replied it’s standard, long‑standing American newspaper style that efficiently conveys both death and age.
• Some preferred non-paywalled obits; links to BBC and archived versions of the NYT piece were shared.

DNA structure, Franklin, and “stolen” work

• Large subthread on whether Watson “stole” Rosalind Franklin’s work.
• One side: Photo 51 and related data, taken by her student Raymond Gosling, were shown to Watson without her consent and were pivotal in confirming the double helix; she wasn’t properly credited and was belittled later, so this was essentially cheating.
• Other side: labs at King’s and Cambridge were already sharing data; Franklin’s work was one of several crucial inputs; the famous paper does acknowledge “unpublished experimental results” from Franklin and colleagues, so calling it theft is revisionist.
• Some detailed the lab politics around Franklin, Wilkins, and their director, arguing mismanagement and personality clashes, not a simple hero–villain story.
• Multiple people noted that Franklin and Crick remained close personally, which doesn’t fit the narrative of outright data “theft.”

Psychedelics and the discovery myth

• Question raised whether Crick was on LSD when the structure was found; several replies say this is mostly folklore with circular sourcing.
• Others think the LSD lore actually belongs to Kary Mullis (PCR) or to earlier “dream” anecdotes like Kekulé’s benzene ring.

Watson’s personality, behavior, and legacy

• Many describe him as an outstanding scientist and fundraiser but also a long‑term racist, sexist, and generally unpleasant person, with anecdotes from talks and Cold Spring Harbor.
• Some argue his later public comments (on race, women, etc.) rightly destroyed his reputation; others say greatness and assholery often coexist and we should separate work from person.
• Debate over whether obituaries should foreground his racism or his scientific contribution.

Gender, credit, and broader history of science

• Thread widens into whether women’s contributions are systematically erased; lists of both female and male under-credited scientists are traded.
• Disagreement over how much of the Franklin story is about sexism versus normal (if ugly) priority disputes in science.
• Strong book recommendations for The Eighth Day of Creation as a nuanced history of this period.

Race, genetics, and IQ

• One long subthread asks what, if anything, in Watson’s race–IQ views was evidence-based.
• Several geneticists and others say: race is a poor biological category; IQ tests are culturally and environmentally loaded; his 2007 claims weren’t supported by solid data.
• A minority cite adoption and psychometrics studies to argue for group differences; others respond with methodological criticisms, structural-racism arguments, and warnings about “scientific racism.”
• Broad agreement from many that, even if small average differences existed, they’d be useless for judging individuals and socially dangerous to fixate on.