Arsenal owner buys and returns $4.1million medal to man who discovered DNA

 The scientist who discovered DNA, James Watson, had sold his Nobel prize medal to Arsenal owner and Russian billionaire, Alisher Usmanov for $4.1 million, telling the Financial Times in November that he would use to money to ‘re-enter public life’. He said he would use the funds to buy art, supplement his income and donate to educational institutions.

 
Watson was roundly condemned by the scientific community for being the first living recipient to sell a Nobel prize medal.

But Usmanov, the richest man in Russia, has said that he would return the medal to the scientist and leave the cash with it.

Usmanov, making the announcement on Tuesday said he bought the medal off in order to ensure that the medal stayed with the scientist who deserved to keep it.

His words:

 “In my opinion, a situation in which an outstanding scientist has to sell a medal recognising his achievements is unacceptable.

“James 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.

“I wouldn’t like the medal of the distinguished scientist to be an object on sale.”

Watson's Nobel Prize medal sold at auction for $4.7 million.

Watson will give some of the money back to research institutions that have ‘nurtured him’, including the University of Chicago, Indiana University and Cambridge University, where DNA was discovered.

Watson once supported the view that dark-skinned people have higher sex drives. He was also forced to retire as chancellor of a laboratory after being quoted saying that Africans are less intelligent than westerners.