A Nobel Prize medal only comes once in a lifetime for some people, but for most of us, it does not come at all. So, when Russian entrepreneur Alisher Usmanov saw a Nobel Prize medal up for auction at Christie's in Manhattan, the $4.1M tag price seemed worth it. But unlike other bidders, Usmanov had a different plan in mind.
The Nobel Prize medal belonged to Dr. James Watson, a molecular biologist, who was given the prestigious award for being one of the founders of the DNA structure. The discovery led to the revelation of how the DNA structure works, which determines how traits are passed on from one generation to the next. Watson received the Nobel Prize medal in 1962 along with Maurice Wilkins and Francis Crick. Dr. Watson is now 86 years old.
Usmanov, on the other hand, is Russia's richest man. After learning that Dr. Watson had decided to auction the medal to give the proceeds to a charitable institution, Usmanov cannot help but feel uneasy about the Nobel Prize being owned by someone else other than the renowned scientist.
He wanted the legendary doctor to fulfill his wish of making a donation to charity, but it did not feel right that the Nobel Prize winner had to give up his precious medal for the cause. Usmanov decided to buy the medal and give it back to Dr. Watson:
"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," Usmanov said in a statement.
Usmanov went on to say that his father had died of cancer. Scientists such as Dr. Watson has made a tremendous contribution to cancer research and he reiterated the importance to support studies such as this.
