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Life

Interview: Licence to annoy

By Peter Aldhous

17 October 2007

James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, talks about why brilliant people tend to annoy others and why he isn’t afraid to say what he thinks.

You will always be best known for the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA, but you have suggested that you have made more impact as a writer.

The double helix was going to be found by someone. I speeded it up a little. But Francis Crick never would have written The Double Helix, nor would any of the other scientists involved. People say that reading it changed their lives and…

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