Jim Watson and "Epigenetics People"
In October there was a scientific symposium marking the opening of the New York Genome Center (NYGC). A featured event was a discussion between Bob Darnell, president of the NYGC, and Jim Watson.
No prizes for guessing that Dr. Watson was at his curmudgeonly best, dismissing sacred cows at a machine-gun pace. In response to a question from Bob Darnell about the interaction of the environment with the genome, Watson was momentarily reflective. “I used to be an environmentalist” he said, before regathering momentum “until I realised that they hated DNA.”
Then came the quote of the day “Environmentalists? They’re even worse than those epigenetics people.”
Cue big laugh from audience, frantic tweeting activity around the room, and the few epigenetics researchers like myself reacting as if to a solid thump in the guts.
Mond you, he also dismissed Harvard, medical schools in general and the NIH, so our field is in excellent company.