VIDEO: Watch the Trailer for AMERICAN MASTERS: DECODING WATSON on PBS

Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson, the man behind the double helix, confronts his complex legacy in the new documentary American Masters: Decoding Watson, premiering nationwide Wednesday, January 2 at 10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). The film will be available to stream beginning January 3 via pbs.org/americanmasters and PBS apps.

Watch the trailer below!

Thrust into the limelight for discovering the secret of life at age 25 with Francis Crick, influential Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson has thrived on making headlines ever since. His discovery of DNA's structure, the double helix, revolutionized human understanding of how life works. He was a RELENTLESS and sometimes ruthless visionary who led the Human Genome project and turned Harvard University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory into powerhouses of molecular biology. With unprecedented access to Watson, his wife Elizabeth and sons Rufus and Duncan over the course of a year, AMERICAN MASTERS explores Watson's evolution from socially awkward postdoc to notorious scientific genius to discredited nonagenarian, also interviewing his friends, his colleagues, scientists and historians. Controversial and unapologetic, Watson still thrives on competition and disruption. The film uncovers his signature achievements, complexities and contradictions, including his penchant for expressing unfiltered and objectionable points of view. Directed and produced by Mark Mannucci.

Photo credit: Andreas Feininger / The LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION / GETTY IMAGES

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