Get to know 'Honest Jim'

James Watson (right) is one of the most passionate advocates of DNA manipulation, not just of plants and animals but of people, too. Even though no one knows the final destination of the DNA revolution, he wants us all to get there double quick.

The youngest of the double helix Nobel laureates, Watson remains the most influential.

Watson's artless candour long ago earned him the nickname "Honest Jim''. Of his work as a fundraiser, he said: "I really like rich people''; and, describing his colleague, remarked: "I have never seen Francis Crick in a modest mood.''

After the triumphant discovery with Crick, Watson did not rest on his DNA laurels. He decided to leave Cambridge, despite its overwhelming influence on biology at that time. "Francis being such a dominant person, I had to. My own career demanded I separate from Francis.''

He would become an intellectual impresario, turning Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory on the East Coast of America, where he is now president, into one of the world's principal centres of biology and leading the effort to read the human genetic code.

Today, Watson believes in designer babies because he has faith in human genes - in particular, those that underpin our ability to care for one another. He argues that much of the public paranoia surrounding human genetic manipulation is inspired by a legitimate recognition of our selfish side, where one person benefits at the expense of others.

Watson is dismayed by the angst over GM technology, spurred by pressure groups "who raise money by raising fears''. But even many of his peers are convinced that scientists should never attempt germ-line gene therapy, where the consequences of GM are passed to future generations.

Despite being pro germ line therapy, he is not in favour of cloning. "You want a law. You don't want 50 people looking like Gwyneth Paltrow.''

One field that fascinates him is neuroscience, as it does Crick. The big question he would like answered is: "How a telephone number is stored in my brain.''

Another fascination is cancer. In 1998, Watson made headlines when he said the research of Judah Folkman at Harvard Medical School, which had shown promise in mice, would cure cancer within two years.

© The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2003