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 National Medal of Science On April 30,
1997, President Bill Clinton announced that Jim Watson had been awarded the National Medal
of Science. The presidential honor, administered by the National Science Foundation, is
this nation's highest scientific honor. The award was made in recognition of Jim's
co-discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953 and for his pioneering role in the
establishment of the Human Genome Project, the worldwide effort to map and sequence the
human genome. Jim was appointed Associate Director for Human Genome Research of the
National Institutes of Health in 1988, and in 1989 he became the first Director of the
National Center for Human Genome Research, a position he held until 1992. On December 16,
1997, he traveled to Washington, DC, to accept the medal from President Clinton.
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