The Nobel laureate James D. Watson, a co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, has drawn waves of outrage after the geneticist told The Sunday Times, a British newspaper, that Africans and Europeans have different levels of intelligence.

The comments have triggered a landslide of condemnation from scientists, lawmakers, and civil-rights leaders.

London’s Science Museum canceled a sold-out lecture by Mr. Watson, who shared a Nobel Prize in 1962, after the newspaper printed his remarks. Mr. Watson is now chancellor of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, in New York.

The Times quoted the 79-year-old scientist as saying 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.” He added that while he hoped everyone was equal, “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true.”

This is not the first time that Mr. Watson has made outlandish comments. The Independent, another British newspaper, tallied Mr. Watson’s other controversial remarks, including that there are links between skin color and sex drive, and that women should have the right to an abortion if genetic tests showed a child would be homosexual.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a private, nonprofit research institution, issued a statement on Wednesday saying that its board, administrators, and faculty members “vehemently disagree” with Mr. Watson’s latest comments. The statement said the comments did not reflect the lab’s mission, and stressed that the lab “does not engage in any research that could even form the basis of the statements attributed to Dr. Watson.” —Bijal Trivedi