Nobel Guy Sells Prize, Billionaire Buys It & Gives It Back
 

Here's a funny one and sorry if its been posted already. James Watson sells the Nobel Prize for the discovery of DNA and it sells at auction for $5m USD to a Russian Billionaire (Usmanov). Usmanov then gives it back to him :1orglaugh

BBC News - Russia's Usmanov to give back Watson's auctioned Nobel medal

I like that :thumbsup

James Watson selling Nobel prize 'because no-one wants to admit I exist' - Telegraph

And this is why they should let him buy Arsenal FC. This guy will help make Arsenal into a true powerhouse!

massive money laundering scheme, nobel comittee should investigate

So the guy is a racist and too smart/dumb to shut up about it?

"Mr Watson, who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for uncovering the double helix structure of DNA, sparked an outcry in 2007 when he suggested that people of African descent were inherently less intelligent than white people."
?Because I was an ?unperson? I was fired from the boards of companies.
Mr Watson ? who insisted he was ?not a racist in a conventional way? ? said it had been ?stupid? of him to not realise that his comments on the intelligence of African people would end up in an article.
?I apologise . . . [the journalist] somehow wrote that I worried about the people in Africa because of their low IQ ? and you?re not supposed to say that.?
In 2007, the Sunday Times ran an interview with Dr Watson in which he said he was ?inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa? because ?all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours ? whereas all the testing says not really?.
He told the newspaper people wanted to believe that everyone was born with equal intelligence but that those ?who have to deal with black employees find this not true?.


The guy is a pure scientist, no diplomacy:

James Watson, DNA discoverer says Irish downfall is not alcohol but ignorance - IrishCentral.com

"the elderly Nobel prizewinner was asked to clarify comments he made in the US last month when he said the Irish curse was not alcohol, but ignorance."

"Professor Watson also courted controversy when he made disparaging remarks about overweight job candidates. According to the Daily Mail he said 'Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you're not going to hire them.'"

Sure but he's probably some kind of a genius too and those kind are always flawed in some way or another.......

So he is too smart to know to shut up? You think he learned to shut up now? Sort of an embarrassing old racist now. What a way to kill your legacy.

Maybe. Are you Irish in any way?

Nope, I just hate it when people who clearly have the education to avoid this type of thing but choose not to.

Well....... in some ways its a sign of the times. In his day you could probably say things like that and it was no big deal. Today navigating political correctness is like treading on eggshells. It's practically difficult to say anything without offending someone.

Sorry, science works on the therom, proof, fact train, not the pc bullshit train.

I wonder how many people actually know that Alfred Nobel was an arms dealer and had the nick name of being the "“The merchant of death." He also invented dynamite and killed his own brother.

Kind of makes you wonder about the criteria for chosing who's going to win a "Nobel" prize.

Well it needs to be an explosive discovery... ie something to die for :1orglaugh

So you see the stuf fhe said about blacks, fat people and the Irish as just being a cute old codger? The guy has huge intellect. He graduated at 16 or something like that. He just chooses to be ignorant of the real world?

PS he is 86. He probably has just lost it, and no one told him.

Maybe but he's got at least $5m plus a medal which he can sell again for a higher price (seeing as Usmanov has given it street value). Im not gay but if he's up for a marriage of convenience, racist or not, i'll definitely consider it if there's no prenup.

I've changed my mind. He's been married since 1968.

Anyway, he's not that cute...

Don't be discouraged ... put up a picture of you and him on Kinkymatch.com and see how he feels about it ....

Ignorant? No - he just states the facts. Like the truth or not. Live in your own pc fantacy if it makes you feel better, but dont expect other people to follow.

The most brilliant people in the world usually have major social issues.

They base everything on facts. They do not concern themselves with what the facts do to others personal feelings/beliefs.

The IQ of any population is going to be a bell curve. So with the millions in many African countries, they would have enough geniuses to rule them effectively. So based on science, he wasn't stating facts. Why would not hire a fat person? If they were qualified, etc, would you really have an issue? Again there is no "fact" that fat people can never find a job.

Are the Irish also cursed with a low IQ? This is just nonsense.

Fat people lack control. I would never hire a fat person. Chubby? Yes. Fat? Never... And dont give me "it's a sickness"

African.. Well. Look at Africa.

Bell curve? Sure. No problem there. The diffetence is where the top 10% is compared with the top 10% on other nations. Because they are in top10 dont make them smart.

Benchmark the top 10% in russia compared with the top 10% of any african nation, and tell me again he was wrong

Does it make him a racist? Maybe in somes perspective. But only if you desides to shut your eyes to the facts.

Still, he's made a great contribution in the name of science.

:2 cents:

I know lots of smart Russians. They tell me the reason is that anyone with brains gets out of Russia.

:winkwink:

There's a reason for that. I don't know if its currently true but there was once a time when the Russian education system was regarded to be one of the best in the world. In fact, it was one of the stand out things about Russia (or so I read).

very true, but his comments were purely opinion based though. He may have opened the door to find out definitively at some point but he didn't discover all the answers yet though, none of us have.

no, you WANT it to be fact, but what he stated is opinion. this is a huge difference...

Well if that's true I must make Einstein look like a super idiot.

Great fact... :) Nice gesture from this Russian guy!!! :thumbsup

In science, these guys go through vetting. First with their peers, then with post-docs. THEN with the journals. "Opinion" never makes it past step one. I hear you, but with scientists, normal rules do not apply. Unless this guy was funded by the Klan, his data has been raked over the coals before it saw the light of day. The problem came about when laymen tried to report it to the normal non-science world.

I feel bad for the guy cause he was just trying to advance science, not an agenda.

DNA is not an opinion.

Have you ever dealt with an engineer or people of that nature? Many not all mind you tend to be very smart in their field of study but lack basic common sense about a lot of things.

Some people's minds are just wired differently. It's not uncommon for highly intelligent people to lack basic common sense and or have the ability to properly socialize.

Einstein in fact, was super ass regarding relationship with the wife.

Albert Einstein Imposes on His First Wife a Cruel List of Marital Demands | Open Culture
Was Einstein the world's worst husband? Wife ordered to keep room tidy, serve three meals a day - but expect NO affection... and she must stop talking when he demands it | Daily Mail Online

You will renounce all personal relations with me insofar as they are not completely necessary for social reasons. Specifically, You will forego:
- my sitting at home with you;
- my going out or travelling with you.

You will obey the following points in your relations with me:
- you will not expect any intimacy from me, nor will you reproach me in any way;
- you will stop talking to me if I request it;
- you will leave my bedroom or study immediately without protest if I request it.

You will undertake not to belittle me in front of our children, either through words or behaviour.

that's respect