James Dewey Watson Net Worth: How the DNA Pioneer Lost It All Let's discuss the James Dewey Watson net worth. This is, in my opinion, one of the most fascinating and tragic financial stories in modern science. When you hear the name "James Watson," you think of genius. You think of the 1962 Nobel Prize. You think of the man who, with Francis Crick, literally discovered the "secret of life"—the double-helix structure of DNA. So, this guy must be loaded, right? He must be worth billions, living on a private island funded by royalties from every DNA test and ancestry kit. Wrong. I believe most people would be shocked to learn that in 2014, James Watson became the first living Nobel laureate to sell his gold medal at auction. Why? Because, in his own words, he had become an "unperson" and his "income stream had dried up" following a series of disastrous public comments. This isn't a simple story of a scientific genius earning his fortune, l...