James D. Watson Quotes about Science

Today, the theory of evolution is an accepted fact for everyone but a fundamentalist minority, whose objections are based not on reasoning but on doctrinaire adherence to religious principles.

Today, the theory of evolution is an accepted fact for everyone but a fundamentalist minority, whose objections are based not on reasoning but on doctrinaire adherence to religious principles.

James D. Watson

Religious, Science, Theory Of Evolution

James D. Watson (1970). “Molecular Biology of the Gene”

A goodly number of scientists are not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid.

James D. Watson

Stupid, Science, Numbers

James D. Watson (2011). “The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA”, p.25, Simon and Schuster

I recently went to my staircase at Clare College, Cambridge and there were women there! There have been a lot of convincing studies recently about the loss of productivity in the Western male. It may be that entertainment culture now is so engaging that it keeps people satisfied. We didn't have that. Science was much more fun than listening to the radio. When you are 16 or 17 and in that inherently semi-lonely period when you are deciding whether to be an intellectual, many now don't bother.

James D. Watson

Lonely, Fun, Science

Already for thirty-five years he had not stopped talking and almost nothing of fundamental value had emerged.

James D. Watson

Science, Talking, Years

James D. Watson (2011). “The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA”, p.51, Simon and Schuster

At lunch Francis [Crick] winged into the Eagle to tell everyone within hearing distance that we had found the secret of life.

James D. Watson

Distance, Science, Discovery

James D. Watson, Alexander Gann, Jan Witkowski (2012). “The Annotated and Illustrated Double Helix”, p.209, Simon and Schuster

Take young researchers, put them together in virtual seclusion, give them an unprecedented degree of freedom and turn up the pressure by fostering competitiveness.

James D. Watson

Science, Giving, Together