Early Life

Watson was born the son of James D. Watson, a business man, and Jean Mitchell. Spending his childhood in Chicago, he attended Horace Mann Grammar School and South Shore High School. During that time, he won a scholarship to the University of Chicago, enrolling at the age if 15. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology in 1947, going on to attend Indiana University in Blooming, where he received his Ph.D. in zoology in 1950.