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posted by chromas on Sunday January 13 2019, @10:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the race-to-disgrace dept.

James Watson: Scientist loses titles after claims over race

Nobel Prize-winning American scientist James Watson has been stripped of his honorary titles after repeating comments about race and intelligence.

In a TV programme, the pioneer in DNA studies made a reference to a view that genes cause a difference on average between blacks and whites on IQ tests. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory said the 90-year-old scientist's remarks were "unsubstantiated and reckless". Dr Watson had made similar claims in 2007 and subsequently apologised.

He shared the Nobel in 1962 with Maurice Wilkins and Francis Crick for their 1953 discovery of the DNA's double helix structure.

Dr Watson sold his gold medal in 2014, saying he had been ostracised by the scientific community after his remarks about race. He is currently in a nursing home recovering from a car accident and is said to have "very minimal" awareness of his surroundings.

Previously: Disgraced Scientist is Selling his Nobel Prize


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 14 2019, @07:49PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 14 2019, @07:49PM (#786593)

    Kenya is a phenomenally interesting example. For instance it's not just Kenyans that are exceptional at marathons, but a small ethnic minority within Kenya making up fewer than 5 million people. And there's nothing environmentally unique about them. They just seem to have phenomenal genetics. Some 8% of Kenya's population is the group we know as 'The Kenyans', accounting for more than 75% of Kenya's medals in marathons.

    But it gets even more interesting. Two separate studies have taken individuals from this minority within Kenya who were not runners and decided to see what would happen if they start training. In as short as a few months of training these 'non-runners' were already able to outperform some professional western runners! Genetic features driving their phenomenal results included longer legs, shorter torsos, and other such things. These are not environmental factors to say the least.

    Also the environmental notions you mention, like Kenyans walking and running miles per day is simply untrue and based on prejudicial views rather than fact. It's certainly true that many of Kenya's runners do come from relatively high altitudes, yet living in high altitudes is something hardly unique to Kenya, though the results of our Kenyan minority in running certainly is!

    There was a surprisingly great article on all of this, and much more, from The Atlantic [theatlantic.com] some time back. Highly recommended.