James Dewey Watson, the molecular biologist whose work helped decode the structure of DNA, died on November 6, 2025, at a hospice in East Northport, N.Y.

James D. Watson, whose co-discovery of the twisted-ladder structure of DNA in 1953 helped light the long fuse on a revolution in medicine, crimefighting, genealogy and ethics, has died.

"DNA was no mere discovery," says Howard Markel, a historian who wrote a book on how Watson, Crick, Franklin and others uncovered this molecule's structure.