Watson shared the Nobel in 1962 with Maurice Wilkins and Francis Crick for the DNA’s double helix structure discovery.
“We have discovered the secret of life,” they said at the time.
His comments on race led to him saying that he felt ostracised by the scientific community.
In 2007, the scientist, who once worked at the University of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory, told the Times newspaper that 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”.
The comments led to him losing his job as chancellor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.
His additional comments in 2019 – when he once again suggested a link between race and intelligence – led the lab to strip his honorary titles of chancellor emeritus, Oliver R Grace professor emeritus and honorary trustee.
“Dr Watson’s statements are reprehensible, unsupported by science,” the laboratory said in a statement, adding that they effectively reverse his apology.
DNA was discovered in 1869, but researchers had yet to discover its structure, and it took until 1943 before scientists realised that DNA made up the genetic material in cells.
Working with images obtained by King’s College researcher Rosalind Franklin, without her knowledge, Crick and Watson were able to construct a physical model of the molecule.