Scientist Retires After Race Remark

NEW YORK, Oct. 25 -- James D. Watson, who shared a 1962 Nobel prize for discovering the structure of DNA, announced his retirement Thursday after controversy erupted over comments he made suggesting that black people are less intelligent than whites.

"The passing on of my remaining vestiges of leadership is more than overdue," he wrote in a statement about his departure from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island, which he joined as director in 1968 and helped build into one of the world's leading genetics research institutes. "The circumstances in which this transfer is occurring, however, are not those which I could ever have anticipated or desired," he added.

Watson, 79, was quoted on Oct. 14 in the Sunday Times of London saying that he is "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."

He subsequently issued a statement saying, "There is no scientific basis for such a belief."

Bruce Stillman, the president of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, said at the time that the comments have no connection with research activities at the lab, whose faculty members "vehemently disagree" with Watson's statements. The lab swiftly suspended Watson's administrative responsibilities as chancellor.

Under Watson's direction, the laboratory has investigated cancer's genetic causes, plant biology, neuroscience and computational biology, according to a statement the lab issued Thursday about Watson's retirement.

In his statement, which amounted to a professional biography, Watson described coming to the lab 49 years ago to give his first course, and he noted the contributions to scientific understanding that the research center has made since then. He also wrote that the Human Genome Project -- whose U.S. branch he helped initiate and run -- had produced possibilities for better understanding of mental illness and cures for illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, which have affected his child and his sister's.

He also said he learned moral values from his parents, who taught him of the need "for social justice, especially the need for those on top to help care for the less fortunate."

"As an educator, I have always striven to see that the fruits of the American Dream are available to all," he wrote.