Watkins was born in Evanston, Illinois and received his bachelor's degree in physics from Randolph-Macon College in 1943.
He earned his master's degree in 1947 and his Ph.D. in 1952 from Harvard University with the thesis A R. F. Spectrometer with Applications to Studies of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Absorption in Solids.
During his time at General Electric, he was also an adjunct professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute from 1962 to 1965 and at the State University of New York, Albany from 1969 to 1973.
[3] Watkins has done research on "the physics of defects in solids, radiation damage, electronic structure of deep levels in semiconductors, nuclear and electron paramagnetic resonance, optical spectroscopy, optical detection of magnetic resonance, and deep level transient capacitance spectroscopy of point defects in solids.
In 1990/91 he was a visiting professor for three months each at the University of Lund, King's College London, and Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics (Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Festkörperphysik — IAF) in Freiburg im Breisgau.