On the Shoulders of Giants

Every generation benefits from the insights and discoveries of the generations who came before. “If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants,” wrote Isaac Newton. In a special series, the World Science Festival invites audiences to stand on the shoulders of modern-day giants. This year’s address will be given by James Watson, Chancellor Emeritus of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, who, along with Francis Crick, stunned the world by cracking the code of life. Their Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the double helix in 1953 launched molecular biology and has had a breathtaking impact on modern science and medicine. Watson will speak about what he considers his “most important work since the double helix”—finding the elusive cure for cancer.