{"id":472,"date":"2014-12-09T22:44:43","date_gmt":"2014-12-09T22:44:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/genotopia.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=472"},"modified":"2020-12-11T00:21:16","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T00:21:16","slug":"having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/","title":{"rendered":"Having His Medal and Selling It Too"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just when we thought that the Jim Watson Nobel medal story couldn\u2019t get any weirder, the anonymous bidder who won the medal last week is returning it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"The medal-winner revealed himself to be Alisher Usmanov, the richest man in Russia. He is paying the total $4.68 million but insists Watson keep the medal. His gesture appears to be one of generosity\u2014but is it really?<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion,\u201d Usmanov said, \u201ca situation in which an outstanding scientist has to sell a medal recognising his achievements is unacceptable.\u201d He added, \u201cJames Watson is one of the greatest biologists in the history of mankind and his award for the discovery of DNA structure must belong to him.\u201d In short, Usmanov used the auction as a means of making a more than $4M donation to scientific research.<\/p>\n

As I wrote the other day<\/a>, it\u2019s not true that Watson had <\/em>to sell his medal\u2014he\u2019s hardly eating cat food. Usmanov\u2019s stipulation that the money go to research tacitly acknowledges this fact. Triangulating\u2014or rather, heptangulating\u2014on Watson\u2019s numerous statements about what he would to do with the money, he probably intended to keep a chunk of it, but give most of it away. Although he mused about giving to each of the schools that were primary to his education, experience suggests that most will go to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory<\/a> (always his favorite charity). We\u2014or anyway I\u2014will be watching for an announcement in the near future about the endowment of a new Cold Spring Harbor fellowship, probably for young scientists.<\/p>\n

So much for the Hockney, though.<\/p>\n

But there remains the question of whether Usmanov is doing Watson a favor by returning the medal. Usmanov has upstaged Watson, foiling any effort for Watson to rehabilitate his image through major charitable giving. Watson still has the $600k from the sale of the documents, which went to a different bidder, but that is a small fraction of what his total gift could have been.<\/p>\n

Is Usmanov\u2019s gesture a well-intentioned blunder or is it philanthropic one-upsmanship? By returning the medal, Usmanov is simultaneously contributing to scientific research and throttling Watson\u2019s effort to do the same.<\/p>\n

If, on the other hand, Watson\u2019s only intention was to raise money for the Lab, then he gets to have his medal and sell it too. I think we can dispense with the prospect of his turning around and selling it again\u2014that seems too cheeky even for Watson. But who knows? Every time he goes out for a long one, he seems to do a double reverse.<\/p>\n

The one safe conclusion is that deterministic explanations rarely fit Watson\u2019s actions. A single motivation almost never fully accounts for what he says. Darwin knows, Watson says much that deserves criticism. But anyone who takes his remarks at face value misunderestimates him, is more interested in self-congratulatory castigation than genuine understanding, or some combination of the two.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just when we thought that the Jim Watson Nobel medal story couldn\u2019t get any weirder, the anonymous bidder who won the medal last week is returning it. The medal-winner revealed himself to be Alisher Usmanov, the richest man in Russia. He is paying the total $4.68 million but insists Watson keep the medal. His gesture … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[18,390,164,112],"class_list":["post-472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cold-spring-harbor","tag-james-watson","tag-meat","tag-nobel-prize"],"yoast_head":"\nHaving His Medal and Selling It Too - Genotopia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Having His Medal and Selling It Too\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just when we thought that the Jim Watson Nobel medal story couldn\u2019t get any weirder, the anonymous bidder who won the medal last week is returning it. The medal-winner revealed himself to be Alisher Usmanov, the richest man in Russia. He is paying the total $4.68 million but insists Watson keep the medal. His gesture ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Genotopia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-09T22:44:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-11T00:21:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.nobelprize.org\/nobel_prizes\/medicine\/images\/med_medal_intro.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nathaniel Comfort\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nathaniel Comfort\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/472\\\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/472\\\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nathaniel Comfort\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1678c350e13f229dfc3ce10d37d5ef41\"},\"headline\":\"Having His Medal and Selling It Too\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-09T22:44:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-11T00:21:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/472\\\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":499,\"commentCount\":4,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/472\\\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.nobelprize.org\\\/nobel_prizes\\\/medicine\\\/images\\\/med_medal_intro.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"cold spring harbor\",\"James Watson\",\"meat\",\"Nobel Prize\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/472\\\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\\\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2014\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/472\\\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/472\\\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\\\/\",\"name\":\"Having His Medal and Selling It Too - Genotopia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/472\\\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/472\\\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.nobelprize.org\\\/nobel_prizes\\\/medicine\\\/images\\\/med_medal_intro.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-09T22:44:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-11T00:21:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1678c350e13f229dfc3ce10d37d5ef41\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/472\\\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/472\\\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/472\\\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.nobelprize.org\\\/nobel_prizes\\\/medicine\\\/images\\\/med_medal_intro.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.nobelprize.org\\\/nobel_prizes\\\/medicine\\\/images\\\/med_medal_intro.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/472\\\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Having His Medal and Selling It Too\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/\",\"name\":\"Genotopia\",\"description\":\"Here Lies Truth\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1678c350e13f229dfc3ce10d37d5ef41\",\"name\":\"Nathaniel Comfort\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/92625f3c761b7e3f723c76a73bc4328259839fbe8530a221b68040b9b4483a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/92625f3c761b7e3f723c76a73bc4328259839fbe8530a221b68040b9b4483a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/92625f3c761b7e3f723c76a73bc4328259839fbe8530a221b68040b9b4483a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nathaniel Comfort\"},\"description\":\"Nathaniel Comfort is a professor in the Department of the History of Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University. From 1997 to 2002, he was on the history faculty at The George Washington University, where he also served as Deputy Director of the Center for History of Recent Science. The Center\u2019s director and founder was Horace Freeland Judson (The Eighth Day of Creation), who, along with John McPhee and Monty Python, Comfort considers among his biggest writing influences. Comfort\u2019s books include The Science of Human Perfection: How Genes Became the Heart of American Medicine (Yale, 2012), The Tangled Field: Barbara McClintock\u2019s Search for the Patterns of Genetic Control (Harvard, 2001), and the edited volume, The Panda\u2019s Black Box: Opening Up the Intelligent Design Debate (Johns Hopkins, 2007). In addition to scholarly articles, he has written for Natural History, the New York Times Book Review, National Public Radio, Nature, Science, New Scientist, The Believer, and other publications. Should he expire tomorrow, he would be survived, in decreasing size order, by a son, a wife, a daughter, a dog, a cat, another cat, and still another cat.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/genotopia.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/author\\\/genotopia\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Having His Medal and Selling It Too - Genotopia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Having His Medal and Selling It Too","og_description":"Just when we thought that the Jim Watson Nobel medal story couldn\u2019t get any weirder, the anonymous bidder who won the medal last week is returning it. The medal-winner revealed himself to be Alisher Usmanov, the richest man in Russia. He is paying the total $4.68 million but insists Watson keep the medal. His gesture ... Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/","og_site_name":"Genotopia","article_published_time":"2014-12-09T22:44:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-12-11T00:21:16+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.nobelprize.org\/nobel_prizes\/medicine\/images\/med_medal_intro.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Nathaniel Comfort","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nathaniel Comfort","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/"},"author":{"name":"Nathaniel Comfort","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/#\/schema\/person\/1678c350e13f229dfc3ce10d37d5ef41"},"headline":"Having His Medal and Selling It Too","datePublished":"2014-12-09T22:44:43+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-11T00:21:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/"},"wordCount":499,"commentCount":4,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.nobelprize.org\/nobel_prizes\/medicine\/images\/med_medal_intro.jpg","keywords":["cold spring harbor","James Watson","meat","Nobel Prize"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2014","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/","name":"Having His Medal and Selling It Too - Genotopia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.nobelprize.org\/nobel_prizes\/medicine\/images\/med_medal_intro.jpg","datePublished":"2014-12-09T22:44:43+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-11T00:21:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/#\/schema\/person\/1678c350e13f229dfc3ce10d37d5ef41"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.nobelprize.org\/nobel_prizes\/medicine\/images\/med_medal_intro.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.nobelprize.org\/nobel_prizes\/medicine\/images\/med_medal_intro.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/472\/having-his-medal-and-selling-it-too\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Having His Medal and Selling It Too"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/","name":"Genotopia","description":"Here Lies Truth","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/#\/schema\/person\/1678c350e13f229dfc3ce10d37d5ef41","name":"Nathaniel Comfort","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/92625f3c761b7e3f723c76a73bc4328259839fbe8530a221b68040b9b4483a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/92625f3c761b7e3f723c76a73bc4328259839fbe8530a221b68040b9b4483a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/92625f3c761b7e3f723c76a73bc4328259839fbe8530a221b68040b9b4483a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nathaniel Comfort"},"description":"Nathaniel Comfort is a professor in the Department of the History of Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University. From 1997 to 2002, he was on the history faculty at The George Washington University, where he also served as Deputy Director of the Center for History of Recent Science. The Center\u2019s director and founder was Horace Freeland Judson (The Eighth Day of Creation), who, along with John McPhee and Monty Python, Comfort considers among his biggest writing influences. Comfort\u2019s books include The Science of Human Perfection: How Genes Became the Heart of American Medicine (Yale, 2012), The Tangled Field: Barbara McClintock\u2019s Search for the Patterns of Genetic Control (Harvard, 2001), and the edited volume, The Panda\u2019s Black Box: Opening Up the Intelligent Design Debate (Johns Hopkins, 2007). In addition to scholarly articles, he has written for Natural History, the New York Times Book Review, National Public Radio, Nature, Science, New Scientist, The Believer, and other publications. Should he expire tomorrow, he would be survived, in decreasing size order, by a son, a wife, a daughter, a dog, a cat, another cat, and still another cat.","sameAs":["http:\/\/genotopia.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com"],"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/author\/genotopia\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgtNP1-7C","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}