SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

A Nobel Prize is up for sale. The gold medal won by Dr. James Watson, the biologist, along with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, for uncovering the double helix structure of DNA. Christie's Auction House will auction the medal next Thursday. The reserve price is $2.5 million. Mr. Watson told the Financial Times that he had become, what he called, an unperson, since making remarks in 2007 that linked intelligence to race, and hasn't delivered any public lectures since. It was stupid on my part, he says now. All you can do is nothing except hope that people actually know what you are. Mr. Watson told the FT that he would use the proceeds from any sale to make contributions to a couple of colleges and to buy some art. I really would love to own a Hockney, he said. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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