India, Nov. 8 -- James Watson, the American scientist who co-discovered the structure of DNA and won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, has died. He was 97 years old. He passed away on Thursday in East Northport, NY, on Long Island, his son Duncan confirmed.

Watson was transferred to a hospice from a hospital this week, where he had been treated for an infection. Born April 6, 1928, in Chicago, he shared the Nobel with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins for their 1953 model of DNA's double helix.

Watson's legacy, however, is marred by controversy. In 2007, he resigned from CSHL after remarks suggesting African intelligence was genetically inferior, claims widely condemned as racist and unsubstantiated.

In 2007, Watson told ...