DNA pioneer entertains staff and students with rules for producing great science

Nobel prize winner Dr James Watson gives a special Centenary talk <em>- News </em>

By Laura Gallagher
21 June 2007

Nobel prize-winning scientist Dr James Watson visited Imperial College this week to give a special Centenary talk on "Rules for important science." Dr Watson, together with the late Francis Crick, successfully proposed the double helical structure for DNA, a feat described by Sir Peter Medawar as "the greatest achievement of science in the twentieth century."

Dr Watson was joined by author and journalist Dr Matt Ridley, who published a biography on Francis Crick in 2006.

Dr Watson entertained the audience with a selection of rules, some more serious than others, which he had devised after looking back on his life and scientific career. "I can tell you the first rule, which was from boyhood, which was avoid fighting bigger boys or dogs," he said.

From his father, he learned he should "only accept truths which come from experience, observation as well – nothing from revelation. You know, you have to have a reason for believing it."

One of the rules he learned as a research student was that you should "be broader than your PhD thesis … It's most likely that what you're working on is not that important, because if it was that important your thesis advisor shouldn't have put you on it," he said.

"Another very good rule is work on Sundays – the reason is, what else is there to do? You should only not work when you have something better to do," added Dr Watson.

He told the audience about his relationships with Dr Crick and other members of the scientific community working in his field and how, as a young researcher, his mind had been firmly focused on the structure of DNA.

"At that time … all I cared about was the DNA structure … It was aided by the fact that effectively there were no girls in Cambridge … I didn't think about men so what do you think about? DNA. … The Cambridge that exists now is a much harder place to do great science," he joked.

Dr Watson has recently had his own genome sequenced, which would have cost a million dollars had he had to pay for it, he said. He told the audience he expected that within a few years it would be much cheaper and easier for anyone to have their genome sequenced.

The genetic variations linked to different diseases in his own genome were not causing him any concern, he revealed. At present, it was too difficult to know exactly what these variations really meant for his overall health. "I haven't lost, I think, a minute's sleep from seeing my genome. We won't really know how to interpret genomes until we do thousands," he said.

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