J.D. Watson Wins Nobel Prize for Medicine

James D. Watson, professor of Biology, as won the 1962 Nobel price for Medicine and Physiology. Stockholm's Royal Caroline institute of Medicine and Surgery, which announced the award yesterday morning, poored Watson for his 1953 discovery of be molecular structure of DNA.

Watson will share the $49,656 prize with Francis H. C. Crick, his co-worker in 1953, and with Maurice H. F. Wllkins, whose X-ray studies of DNA made possible the famous Watson-Crick model of the molecule.

Last year the Nobel Prize for Medicine and physiology went to another Harvard Faculty member--Georg von Bekesy, senior research fellow in Psychophysics. Watson will be the eighth Harvard professor to receive this award and the tenth Nobel winner.

Word of the prize reached Watson early yesterday, before he appeared in the Biological Laboratories to give a 9 a.m. lecture in Biology 150 (The Biology of Viruses). By the time he made his entrance, his audience had ready learned the news and broke into a loud ovation. Watson, however, managed to carry on despite frequent interruptions by reporters who could not wait for the press conference at 10:30 a.m.

The 24-year-old biologist seemed nonpluseed at all the attention centered on him and confessed he was "overwhelmed" by the announcement. When asked to tell what he had done, he replied simply. "We thought DNA was important and that we ought to know its structure. Crick and I thought we could guess the structure if we went about it in the right way, and I suppose we did."

When Watson and Crick began their research in England, DNA (Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid) had already been identified as the genetic substance of cells. Information on its chemical composition suggested that it was a very long, thin molecule made up of sugar groups (deoxyribose), phosphate groups, and nitrogen-containing "bases." Further, X-ray diffraction patterns of fibrous DNA indicated that the form of the molecule was a double helix.

From these bits of information, Watson and Crick built up a hypothetical structure of the DNA molecule that appeared to take into account all of the observations then available. Ther model consisted of two strands of alternating sugar and phosphate groups wound about a common axis as a double helix. The bases were attached to the sugar groups and projected toward each other from opposite strands. Finally, hydrogen bonds between the base-pairs formed rung-like links between the two strands.

Source of Genetic Information

The astounding thing about this proposed structure was that this DNA molecule could obviously serve as a vehicle for genetic information. Watson and Crick hypothesized that the two strands of the molecule were complementary, that is, that the arrangement of groups on one strand determined the arrangement on the other. Thus, if the strands were to separate, each might be able to form its complement if the necessary components were available, and in this way two identical DNA molecules would result.

The two researchers went on to suggest that the specific arrangement of bases along the molecule constituted a code by which genetic information could be transmitted in cell division. This was the first major breakthrough in cellular biology--the first sound attempt to explain such important aspects of life as heredity in purely molecular terms.

Subsequent experiments have proved the Watson-Crick model of DNA correct, and much effort is currently being directed toward breaking the DNA code.

Watson emphasized yesterday that in 1953 "the DNA problem was ready to be solved." I can't imagine two years having gone by," he said, "without someone else making the directory."

Will Lecture in Bio 2

Students in Biology 2 this spring will have an opportunity to hear the Nobel-winning scientist lecture in person on DNA, for Watson is a regular member of the teaching staff of that course. In addition to his pedagogical activities, Watson is still deeply involved in research, primarily on the mechanisms of protein synthesis in the cell.

At yesterday's press conference with James D. Watson, the men of Boston's newspapers and television stations noded their heads furiously as the Nobel-Prize-winning biologist attempted to explain what he had done, but the questions they fired cast doubt on the extent of their understanding.

"Well, what's the practical significance, Dr. Watson!" asked one; "will it cure cancer?" "Can we change heredity now, professor?" inquired another.

Watson patiently described the model he had worked out with Crick.

"Sure, Doctor, but can you put in terms the man in the street will understand?"

When Watson said he had done all this in 1953, a started reporter asked,