Why James Watson is considered one of the titans of science?

James Watson, an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the structure of DNA in 1953. He gained worldwide fame and prominence as the joint author of the scientific papers between 1953 and 1954 which he co-wrote with fellow scientist Francis Crick. Their work laid down the double helical structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA.

    The DNA molecule is a mega molecule that is the process of genetic  replication. One of the most celebrated science writers, Watson published his textbook ‘Molecular Biology of the Gene’ in 1965 and his best-selling autobiographical book ‘The Double Helix,’ in 1968.

    Watson helped to establish and direct the Human Genome Project at the National Institute of Health, where he oversaw the mapping of the genes in human chromosomes. His own genome was sequenced in 2007, making him the second person to have this done.