Professor James Watson, one of the scientists who discovered the structure of DNA, will be auctioning off the Nobel Prize medal he received for the achievement.
Professor James Watson, one of the scientists who discovered the structure of DNA, will be auctioning off the Nobel Prize medal he received for that breakthrough.
His will be the first award to be auctioned while the recipient is still alive.
The estimate placed on the item by Christie’s in New York, the house handling the sale, is between 2.5 and 3.5 million dollars.
Items belonging to his now-deceased colleague Francis Crick have previously drawn enormous sums at auction.
Crick's Nobel Prize medal sold last year for over 2 million dollars, but it was a letter he’d written to his son outlining the specifics of the DNA discovery that really got the attention.
By bidding’s end it was claimed for 6.06 million dollars. Not only was that several times more than its initial estimate, it set a record as the most expensive letter ever bought at an auction.
Watson will also be selling some papers. That lot includes a draft of his Nobel acceptance speech and its current estimate is 400 thousand dollars.
Part of the money from the auction will be used to fund research at select universities and institutions.
