James D. Watson currently chairs the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York and is a member of associations such as the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society. From 1989 to 1992 he headed the National Center for Human Genome Research of the National Institute of Health. His research has earned him numerous awards, especially the Nobel Prize in 1962, shared with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins. Among his many books include molecular biology of the gene (1978) and the best-seller The Double Helix: personal account of the discovery of DNA structure exist (2000). Along with other authors she has published recombinant DNA: Introduction to Genetic Engineering (1986), Molecular biology of the gene (1987), Recombinant DNA (1992) and edited together with John Cairns and Gunther S. Stent Phage and the origins of molecular biology (1996).