James D. Watson, R.I.P.
28 Feb 2009 / PE
The last place I worked, I kept my James D. Watson bobblehead on a cubicle divider, next to a Spongebob bobblehead that belonged to a colleague.
Everyone who saw these two guys recognized Spongebob, but not one person ever recognized James D. Watson.
I mean, they knew it was someone named James D. Watson because his name is right there on the base, but despite the fact that he’s holding a double helix structure, nobody recognized him as James D. Watson, Nobel Laureate and co-discoverer of the structure of the DNA molecule.
(Ironically, one of the main reasons I got into software development was the opportunity to work with smart, educated people.)
I brought Watson with me to the place I work now, but unfortunately I accidentally knocked him off a credenza one morning and his head broke off. I tried a couple of times to glue it back on but it didn’t take. So I had to throw him away.
The real James D. Watson is actually still alive at age 80.
