Scientist Returns Home After Race Furor

Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:22 AM EDT

science, britain, scientist, controversial

LONDON — A prominent American scientist who set off an international furor with remarks about intelligence levels among blacks canceled a book tour of Britain and returned home Friday, after his employer suspended his administrative duties.

James Watson, 79, is chancellor of the prestigious Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. Late Thursday, the lab's board said it had suspended Watson's administrative responsibilities pending further deliberation.

Watson, who shared a Nobel Prize in 1962 for DNA research, apologized on Thursday.

"I am mortified about what has happened," Watson said. "More importantly, I cannot understand how I could have said what I am quoted as having said."

Watson returned to the United States "because of circumstances back home at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory," said Kate Farquhar-Thomson, a head of publicity at Oxford University Press. "He felt that's where he needed to be."

Farquhar-Thomson had been accompanying Watson on a tour of Britain to promote his new book, "Avoid Boring People: Lessons From a Life in Science." Her company published the British edition.

The trouble began after the Sunday Times Magazine of London quoted Watson as saying that he's "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."

While he hopes everyone is equal, "people who have to deal with black employees find this is not true," Watson is quoted as saying. Yet he also said people should not be discriminated against on the basis of color, because "there are many people of color who are very talented."

The comments, cited Wednesday in a front-page article in another British newspaper, provoked condemnation on both sides of the Atlantic. The Cold Spring Harbor lab issued a statement saying its board and administration "vehemently disagree with these statements and are bewildered and saddened if he indeed made such comments."

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{"commentId":1115862,"authorDomain":"ccroel"}

Carl Croel

How can we find out if the scientific analysis of racial intelligence says blacks have higher or lower intelligence than Asians?

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#1 - Sat Oct 20, 2007 12:47 PM EDT

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Scientist Apologizes for Hurtful Remarks	Associated Press	Thu Oct 18	2
Watson Loses Cold Spring Harbor Post	Science: Current Issue	Mon Oct 22	0
Controversial DNA Pioneer's Talk Halted	Associated Press	Wed Oct 17	0
Lab suspends DNA pioneer Watson	BBC News	Fri Oct 19	12
Controversial DNA pioneer says blacks not as intelligent as whites	Yahoo! News	Thu Oct 18	14

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