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James Watson was a Natural sciences good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
September 3, 2011	Good article nominee	Not listed

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Archives

Archive 1	Archive 2	Archive 3
Archive 4

Lead section

It looks like the comment preceding his resignation is a contentious topic, but can't we at least agree that that last sentence doesn't belong in the lead section? It looks like it's a definite case of undue weight, and just because the news received digital coverage doesn't mean that it takes precedent over the coverage for the long and distinguished career. (Someone reading this would presumably be familiar with the subject matter, so no need to list things out.) Unfortunately there was no Guardian or Associated Press to digitally pick up many of these stories when they broke, so the coverage is in print. The body of the article still goes over these comments. Dreambeaver(talk) 21:08, 7 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It appears he's still very much the chancellor of coldspring harbor

He did retire publicly around the 2007 controversy, but I remember him being reinstated soon thereafter. He is still listed as chacnellor emeritus to this day. http://www.cshl.edu/gradschool/Non-Research-Faculty/james-d-watson 168.7.235.141 (talk) 20:06, 11 January 2013 (UTC)bdg[reply]

"Emeritus" means former. Javaweb (talk) 05:52, 4 August 2013 (UTC)Javaweb[reply]

Eugenics Views

I see nothing in this bio that covers the following -

In May of 1973, just four month after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion, James Watson (who won a Nobel prize for his work in discovering the double helix design of DNA) expressed his views. Writing in Prism, a publication of the American Medical Association, Watson stated, "If a child were noI t declared alive until three days after birth, then all parents could be allowed the choice only a few are given under the present system. The doctor could allow the child to die if the parents so choose and save a lot of misery and suffering. I believe this is the only rational, compassionate attitude to have." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.79.96.4 (talk) 06:27, 22 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Did you read the article or just an excerpt on a web site?

Quotes must be in context. Was he talking about ALL babies, anyone with disabilities, or just those born with terminal conditions destined to live for weeks in agony and then die? In that case, his article was advocating euthanasia not eugenics. If his views were mentioned without distorting his meaning and in context directly taken from the actual publication, it is a fine addition. However, depending on a website quoting the article as a source is a problem. Polemic websites manufacture outrage by quoting out of context to promote their worldview all the time.

--Javaweb (talk) 14:33, 4 August 2013 (UTC)Javaweb[reply]

The Nobel

He's just another jerk who got the Nobel. God, what else is new. It'd be great that after these people won their "prize" everybody just quit paying attention. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.119.151.233 (talk) 00:47, 2 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

What was this? Completely irrelevant rant. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dc2467 (talk • contribs) 22:41, 9 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

16% African?

There was some assertion about genetic testing showing that "James Watson is 16% Black": http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/10/watsons-black-dna-ultimate-irony/?_r=0 can that be confirmed and should it be worked into the article? --41.150.200.56 (talk) 12:59, 15 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

What difference would it make? If he's 16% African, then he's 84% not-African. His African genetic component only comprises a minor fraction of his whole genome. Also keep in mind that, as obnoxious as he tends to be, he doesn't hold the position that, without exception, nowhere in the {Black, Female, Obese} population can there be found individuals of high intelligence. Any large population of humans is going to have a spectral distribution of intellectual abilities. If Watson is 16% Black, then even in his own estimation there's a finite probability that he's partially descended from a Negro-genius.

Visible evidence shows that any non-European percentage is much less than 16%. It would have to be about 1% to be invisible at a glance. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.84.93.132 (talk) 11:02, 2 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The 16% is not possible exactly, anyway. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.66.255.30 (talk) 11:08, 2 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

First item on provocative statements list

I removed that item because there is no source saying it's provocative. It's simply a quote from a book written by Watson. We can't use the encyclopedia's voice to assume a statement provocative. We need someone else saying it is, or commenting on it in some shape or fashion. As it stands, there's no justification for cherry picking that particular quote above any other in the book. I am removing it again per WP:BLPSOURCES specifically. This is a contentious, unsourced opinion about the book quotation. —Torchiest ^talk_edits 21:08, 1 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

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Descent

He is in the category "American people of African descent" but I cannot see any African or African-American ancestors mentioned in his "early years" section. But see above on genetic testing (16% African?) Hugo999 (talk) 23:04, 27 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]