James Dewey Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he co-authored a paper with Francis Crick in Nature proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. In recognition of this groundbreaking work, Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material".

Watson earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Chicago in 1947 and completed his PhD at Indiana University Bloomington in 1950. After a post-doctoral year at the University of Copenhagen, he worked at the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory in England, where he met his future collaborator Francis Crick.

From 1956 to 1976, Watson was part of the faculty at Harvard University, where he promoted research in molecular biology. In 1968, he became director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), significantly expanding its funding and research, and shifting focus to cancer research. He served as president in 1994 and later as chancellor until 2007.

In 2019, after reiterating controversial views on race and genetics, CSHL revoked his honorary titles and cut all ties with him.

Watson has authored several science books, including the textbook Molecular Biology of the Gene (1965) and the bestselling book The Double Helix (1968). He was also associated with the National Institutes of Health between 1988 and 1992, contributing to the establishment of the Human Genome Project.