The scientist who was jointly awarded the Nobel prize in 1962 for helping to discovered the double-helix structure of DNA has sold his medal for $4.1m (£2.6m) at auction in New York.
James Watson claimed to have faced financial problems since making controversial remarks on race and intelligence to the Sunday Times in 2007.
The price paid by an unnamed telephone bidder was a record for a Nobel sold at auction, Christie’s said. It went for considerably more than the $2.5m to $3.5m estimated by the auctioneers.
The New York Times reported that Watson, 86, watched “open-mouthed” from the back of the room with his wife and one of his sons as the bidding, which began at $1.5m, rose by $100,000 increments.
Christie’s also sold Watson’s notes for his Nobel acceptance speech for $365,000, and the manuscript for the lecture that he gave the day after he received the medal went for $245,000.
