Looking back on his achievement, he seemed frustrated that he and partner Francis Crick did not discover DNA's structure earlier. "There was no reason, [we didn't find it earlier]. We were incompetent," he said.
Watson, who joined Harvard's Faculty in 1956, said he considers his time at Harvard a success.
"The real reason I came here was to find a wife. I got one," he joked. "I always wanted to marry a student, and I did."
"I was looking for good genes," he quipped.
The speech's main focus was on the future of genetics, and its impact on society. In particular, he called for governments to stay out of legislating genetic engineering.
"Law cannot handle [genetic engineering]...I'd even stay away from laws about cloning," he said.
Watson said he believes that debate over legislating genetics is wasted effort. "The real dilemma is the disease," he said. If geneticists can cure a disease, Watson indicated, they should be able to do so.
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