James Watson, famously known as one of the "fathers of DNA," is putting his Nobel Prize up for auction with a staggering price of 2.5 million dollars after being shunned for his race comments that he made back in 2007.
The publication of those comments had an impact on his income, so the 86-year-old is selling his award in the hopes that it will bolster the income he receives from his academic appointments, and perhaps finance the purchase of some new artwork, the Washington Post reported.
In a 2007 interview with the Sunday Times, Watson, who won the award in 1962, expressed the belief that some races are inherently less intelligent than others.
The American molecular biologist had stated then that he was inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa because all the social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence was the same as theirs; whereas all the testing said not really.
Watson told the Financial Times that he'd become an "unperson" after those remarks and wasn't getting much sympathy.
In fact that wasn't Watson's first tango with controversy, as he reportedly made a link between skin color and sex drive during a lecture in 2000.
Watson's award will go up for auction at Christie's New York on Dec. 4.