Rufus Robert Watson, What happened to James D. Watson’s son?

Rufus Robert Watson is the son of James D. Watson. Rufus Robert Watson’s father is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. He is noted for his decisive work in the discovery of the molecular structure of DNA, the hereditary material associated with the transmission of genetic information. He shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins in 1962. Who is James D. Watson’s son Rufus?

Rufus Robert Watson: Bio Summary

How old is James D. Watson’s son Rafus now?

Rufus Robert Watson was born in 1970 in the United States of America. As of 2023, he is 53 years old. He is the son of  James D. Watson and his lifelong wife Elizabeth Watson. Rufus is not the only child of the famous scientist. The couple also has another child, a son whose name is  Duncan James Watson. Duncan is the younger brother of Rufus.

ALSO, READ; Who is Elizabeth Watson, James Watson’s wife?

Rufus was diagnosed in his teens with schizophrenia

James D. Watson’s son Rufus was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his teenage years per the Newyorktimes. “Decoding Watson” marks the first time Dr. Watson and his wife, Liz, have spoken publicly at length about finding out that Rufus, their older son, has schizophrenia. “Decoding Watson,” is a film about Dr. James D. Watson, which explores the gulf between his scientific brilliance and his views on race. Rufus and his brother, Duncan, also appear in the film.

The Scientist is seeking to encourage progress in the understanding and treatment of mental illness by determining how genetics contributes to schizophrenia so “My son might have some of his life at a normal level.” Helping Rufus meant understanding the genetic basis for his sickness, “and the only way we could do that was to get the genome Thenewatlantis reported.

Rufus Watson Carried out his threat of running away

When the famous scientist called a meeting in the spring of 1986 at Cold Spring Harbor to discuss the feasibility of sequencing the human genome, he and his lifelong wife, Elizabeth Watson, informed arriving conferees that their teenage son Rufus had made good on his threat to flee a psychiatric hospital the day before.

Rufus, sixteen was committed at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in White Plains after attempting to jump to his death through a window in the World Trade Center. Rufus Robert Watson was discovered wandering in the woods two days after his escape. The senior Watson called the police that Friday morning to say he had picked up his son at a White Plains train station, Capt. James Harding told APnews.

The son of the molecular biologist and a former straight-A student slipped out of the facility, where he had been for six months, after telling his father he planned to run away from the facility. According to reports, Rufus Robert Watson left the facility without shoes and allegedly stole $10 from his roommate.

ALSO, READ; Duncan James Watson: Who is James D. Watson’s son?

Rufus Robert Watson’s father lost honours over race remarks

In a TV programme, the pioneer in DNA studies made a reference to a view that genes cause a difference on average between blacks and whites on IQ tests. Rufus’ father had made similar claims in 2007 and subsequently apologized.

In 2007, Rufus Robert Watson’s father told the Times newspaper that he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really”. While his hope was that everybody was equal, he added, “people who have to deal with black employees find this is not true”.

After those remarks, Dr. Watson lost his job as chancellor at the laboratory and was removed from all his administrative duties. In an interview with the news agency, Rufus weighs in his thoughts about what his father said, saying his father’s statement -“might make him out to be a bigot and discriminatory” but that was not true.

ALSO, READ; Who is Elizabeth Watson, James Watson’s wife?

“They just represent his rather narrow interpretation of genetic destiny… My dad had made the lab his life, and yet now the lab considers him a liability.“- he said. In his mid-fifties now, Rufus Watson still cannot have the normal life his father has hoped for and worked for.