Photo/Illutration James D. Watson, co-discoverer of the DNA helix, in a laboratory at the Baylor College of Medicine's Human Genome Sequencing Center in Houston, Texas, on May 31, 2007  (Reuters file photo)

Who was Watson’s partner in solving codes? Anyone who says “Crick” and not “Holmes” must be a lover of biology.

James Watson (1928-2025) and Francis Crick (1916-2004) co-discovered in 1953 the double-helix structure of DNA that contains the genetic code.

Watson died on Nov. 6. He was 97.

In “The Double Helix,” his autobiographical and behind-the-scenes account of the discovery, readers are taken aback by his brutal honesty and gossipy remarks. He goes so far as to divulge that Crick’s garrulousness annoyed many people.

An ambitious 24-year-old back in 1953, Watson was far from the image of an “honorable man of integrity” that is seen in a hero's biography.

He once raised a toast in celebration upon discovering an error in an academic paper authored by his rival.

One day, he was fiddling with a cardboard model when the image of a double helix, like twisty ladders, flashed in his mind.

When he considered that the ladders’ rungs were combinations of the bases called adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine, he realized that this was perfectly consistent with earlier findings.

In cell division, the combinations come apart as if unzipped, creating duplicates.

How utterly simple is the system that controls the history of life spanning billions of years.

The paper that Watson and Crick co-authored was effectively no more than one page long.

"When we saw the answer we had to pinch ourselves," said Watson. "We realized it probably was true because it was so pretty."

While his racist remarks late in his life can never be condoned, there is no question that the magnitude of his discovery in his 20s was the greatest since Darwin’s.

He must be on his way to the other world now, definitely via the spiral staircase of life forms.

—The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 11

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.