Greece Honors James D. Watson

This edition is a record of James Watson’s historic visit to Greece in 2011 and 2016 at the Postgraduate Program «Medical Chemistry» conferences of the University of Patras. At these conferences, with James Watson as the honored person, the opportunity was given for the Greek University Community to get to know the great research-er up close.

The discovery of the structure and function of the double-stranded DNA of Watson and Crick was one of the most important achieve-ments of the human mind and a huge step of man in his course through the centuries. It is considered the most important discovery after the formulation of the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin.

The discovery of the function of DNA confirmed the theory of evolution and is now the core and reference point of all sciences that evolve over time, drawing on the wisdom of deciphering the secret of the molecule of life, in the service of all sciences.

Knowledge of the structure of the DNA molecule and the genome that carries the genetic information has opened new horizons in the fields of molecular biology and gives new perspectives to the science of biology and medicine for new therapies.

For their momentous discovery, Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 1962 and now belong to the pantheon of pioneers of the human intellect alongside the leading figures whose work has influenced human thought.

Their discovery led to the revision of the fundamental rules of all the sciences and the perception with which man saw himself and the world. Their discovery was the beginning of a new world that saw and explained life and its mysteries in the light of scientific truth.

Watson and Crick will be referred to the next generations alongside the leading figures of human thought. The discovery and deciphering of DNA was the great leap of medicine after Hippocrates and Watson and Crick’s Eureka –we discovered the secret of life– was the most important statement ever heard after Archimedes’ Eureka.

For Watson’s visit to Greece and the warm welcome reserved for him by the Greek academic community, in Patras in 2011 and in Spetses in 2016, the next generations will refer with honor for our country. The State honored him in both of his visits to our country for his contribution to science and society and as an ardent philhellene. He had expressed himself with admiration for the Greek classical culture as the birthplace and cradle of democracy and modern culture.

In 2012, Watson sent a letter to the US President Barack Obama and the European Council President Herman Van Rompuy asking for Greece’s support during the financial crisis, and he was the first to sign the fifteen Nobel laureates’ letter to the European leadership in 2015, with which they sought the support of research and Greek Universities.

The European Leadership ( Jean-Claude Juncker, Martin Schulz, Donald Tusk) responded positively to the letter of the Nobel laureates and in collaboration with the Ministry of Education launched in 2016 the establishment of the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I.) to support research in Greek universities and research institutes of the country.

The University of Patras honored him with the proclamation to an honorary doctorate after the proposal of the Department of Medi-cine and a masterpiece sculpture was erected in the courtyard of the Department of Biology representing the Double Helix DNA, honouring Watson and Crick. The monumental DNA work of Efstathios Leontis, which captures the evolution of species, unique worldwide for its architecture, adorns the University of Patras and is a pole of attraction for visitors from Greece and abroad.

We are pleased to present this historical archive of James Watson’s visits to Greece, which includes stations of his journey, events and incidents that followed his visit to Greece and unpublished photographic material of his visits and speeches in our country.

We hope that you will enjoy it and live with us the historical moments of his visit to Greece. Our country and the scientific community are proud for the reception and hospitality they offered to the leading researcher of the century and to which the next generations will honourably mention.

Ioannis Matsoukas was born and raised in Patras. He studied in the Chemistry Department of the University of Patras in the first row of its students newly established University and subsequently at the University of New Brunswick in Canada where he obtained a Master’s degree M.Sc. in the organic synthesis of natural products. The doctoral thesis followed on the Chemistry Department of the University Patras in synthesis and spectroscopy study of peptides and amino acid derivatives. He performed post-doctoral research in the Department of Pharmacology of the School of Medicine University of Calgary in Canada (1981-1984) in the Renin angiotensin receptor (RAS), in the development of a new generation of antihypertensive products, Sartans, and their mechanism of action. He was elected and became an assistant and then a substitute and regular professor. In 2005 he was elected President of the Department of Chemistry promoting the excellence. He was the founder and for many years was the Director of the flagship interdepartmental postgraduate program ”Medicine Chemistry“ of the first in Greece awarded as Euromaster. He globalized the research of this program and invited to the annual Medicinal Chemistry conferences of world-renowned researchers among including six Nobel laureates. His research interests focus in the study of important peptides and hormones such as Angiotensine, Myelin epitopes and the Gonadotropic hormone that implicates respectively in Hypertension (the RAS system is associated with the disease Covid 19), Multiple Sclerosis, infertility and cancer. His research group was the first in the international literature that synthesized and studied cyclic peptides, synthetic masterpieces structures, to investigate the mechanism of action of angiotensin, myelin and gonadotropin. Big investments have been made for its exploitation of his research and has been honored with many awards. He has been awarded the title of Honorary Professor from the University of Calgary, Canada and Victoria, Australia with which it has a long and successful collaboration. He is in charge of international pharmaceutical research network and has a large number of publications in high- profile journals and many patent techniques. He is among the first scholar who ventured early to establish in Canada and Greece startup companies for the utilization of his research.

Thomas Mavromoustakos was born in the suburb of Morfou in Cyprus in 1960. He studied in the Department of Chemistry of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) from 1980-1985. He completed his postgraduate, doctoral and post-doctroal studies at the Department of Pharmacy of Connecticut of the United States of America from 1985-1990. From 1991-2007 he was working as a researcher at National Institute of Research. From 2012 he serves as a full professor at the Department of Chemistry of NKUA and in 2020 as Director of the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry. In 2022 he was elected as Vice-President of the Department of Chemistry of NKUA, at which he serves. As a researcher of the Department of Chemistry he studies the interactions of pharmaceutical products with receptors and lipidic bilayers, as well as with the transfer using delivery vehicles at the desired organs-targets. To achieve those goals he uses Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Solid State, X-ray Diffraction of small and large angle, Differential Scanning Calorimetry, Raman Spectroscopy and more. He also studies the interactions, with the active sites using Molecular Docking and Molecular Dynamics. He applies three-dimensional relations of structure and activity and data mining from data bases for the discovery of new molecules against neuro- degenerative and cardiovascular diseases. He is a Graduate of the Theological School (2007) and a doctor of Social Theology (2012). At Theology his research targets are the understanding of potential combinations of numbers and hours at the texts of the New Testament, which promote their interpretation and deeper understanding.