DNA Pioneer James Watson to speak Oct. 14

September 27, 1999
Contact: Andrew Careaga (573) 341-4328 [email protected]

DNA pioneer James Watson to speak Oct. 14 at the University of Missouri-Rolla

ROLLA, Mo. -- Nobel Prize winner Dr. James Watson, who discovered the molecular structure of DNA along with Francis Crick in 1953, will speak Thursday, Oct. 14, at the University of Missouri-Rolla.

Watson will be the 22nd presenter in the Remmers Special Artist/Lecturer Series at UMR. The lecture will begin at 8 p.m. in the Gale Bullman Multi-Purpose Building, 10th Street and Bishop Avenue.

The lecture series is supported through a fund established by the late Walter E. Remmers, a UMR alumnus, and his wife, Miriam, of Rolla. Watson's lecture will be free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Tickets will be available to the general public beginning Sept. 23. For more information, contact the UMR Ticket Window in University Center-West at (573) 341-4219.

Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962. Watson is now a central figure in the Human Genome Project, an international effort to catalogue the entire human genetic code. If successful, the project could lead to gene-based therapies for a host of diseases ranging from breast cancer to depression.

Previous participants in the Remmers Special Artist/Lecturer Series include former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley; Retired Gen. Colin Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; former President Gerald Ford; and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

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