Oct 22, 2007

A Noble Proposal

by Cliopatria

There is certainly no shortage of outrage about James Watson's recent comments on race and intelligence. And rightfully so. As an Africanist who has also taught a fair number of African-American history surveys, I know that these particular toxic memes have survived all too long. More so, as the husband of an African Computer Scientist and as the father of two African-American children, I take it a bit personally, too.

Mind you, he has a right to be obnoxious... and those who disagree with him have a right to say just what a throwback he is.

That said, let me suggest that perhaps one way to help rectify the situation would be to award the Nobel Prize posthumously to Rosalind Franklin , whose own research was passed to Watson and Crick without her permission and who received little attribution and no small abuse from Watson.

Seems only fair to me.

More Comments:

Jeremy Young - 10/22/2007

if Nobel prizes were awarded posthumously.

If they had been, Franklin would easily have won one when they first came out, not been passed over in favor of the very co-worker, Maurice Wilkins, who surreptitiously passed her research to Watson and Crick. Of course, if we're handing out posthumous Nobels, it would only make sense to award one to, say, Nikola Tesla, the inventor of the alternating current motor, radio communication, wireless power transmission, and radar. Unfortunately, the rules of the Nobel committee preclude us from doing that, either.

Nobels are awarded when the awardee dies after they are announced but before the ceremony.