For other people named Maurice Wilkins, see Maurice Wilkins (disambiguation).
Maurice Wilkins
CBE FRS
Maurice Wilkins with one of the cameras he developed specially for X-ray diffraction studies at King's College London[2]
Born
Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins
(1916-12-15)15 December 1916
Pongaroa, New Zealand
Died
5 October 2004(2004-10-05) (aged 87)
Blackheath, London, England
Education
King Edward's School, Birmingham
Alma mater
University of Cambridge (MA) University of Birmingham (PhD)
Known for
X-ray diffraction, DNA
Spouses
Ruth Wilkins
(divorced)
Patricia Ann Chidgey
(m. 1959)
Children
5
Awards
Lasker Award (1960)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1962)
EMBO Membership (1964)[1]
Scientific career
Fields
Biophysics Physics
Institutions
King's College London University of Birmingham University of California, Berkeley University of St Andrews
Thesis
Phosphorescence decay laws and electronic processes in solids(1940)
Doctoral advisor
John Randall
Maurice Hugh Frederick WilkinsCBE FRS (15 December 1916 – 5 October 2004)[3] was a New Zealand-born British biophysicist and Nobel laureate whose research spanned multiple areas of physics and biophysics, contributing to the scientific understanding of phosphorescence, isotope separation, optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction. He is known for his work at King's College London on the structure of DNA.
Wilkins' work on DNA falls into two distinct phases. The first was in 1948–1950, when his initial studies produced the first clear X-ray images of DNA, which he presented at a conference in Naples in 1951 attended by James Watson. During the second phase, 1951–52, Wilkins produced clear "B form" X-shaped images from squid sperm, images he sent to James Watson and Francis Crick, causing Watson to write "Wilkins... has obtained extremely excellent X-ray diffraction photographs" [of DNA].[4][5]
In 1953, Wilkins' group coordinator Sir John Randall instructed Raymond Gosling to hand over to Wilkins a high-quality image of "B" form DNA (Photo 51), which Gosling had made in 1952,[6][7] after which his supervisor Rosalind Franklin "put it aside"[8] as she was leaving King's College London. Wilkins showed it to Watson.[9] This image, along with the knowledge that Linus Pauling had proposed an incorrect structure of DNA, "mobilised"[10] Watson and Crick to restart model building. With additional information from research reports of Wilkins and Franklin, obtained via Max Perutz, Watson and Crick correctly described the double-helix structure of DNA in 1953.
Wilkins continued to test, verify, and make significant corrections to the Watson–Crick DNA model and to study the structure of RNA.[11] Wilkins, Crick, and Watson were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material".[12]
^Cite error: The named reference membo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Science mourns DNA pioneer Wilkins". BBC News. 6 October 2004. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
^Arnott, S.; Kibble, T. W. B.; Shallice, T. (2006). "Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins. 15 December 1916 – 5 October 2004: Elected FRS 1959". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 52. London: Royal Society: 455–478. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2006.0031. PMID 18551798.
^Robert Olby; The Path to The Double Helix: Discovery of DNA; p366
^James D. Watson, The Annotated and Illustrated Double Helix p180
^Witkowski J (2019). "The forgotten scientists who paved the way to the double helix". Nature. 568 (7752): 308–309. Bibcode:2019Natur.568..308W. doi:10.1038/d41586-019-01176-9.
^Maddox p178
^James D. Watson, The Annotated and Illustrated Double Helix p182
^"Linus Pauling and The Race for DNA". Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
^Arnott, Struther. "Crystallography News: An historical memoir in honour of Maurice Wilkins 1916–2004" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
^"The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins CBE FRS (15 December 1916 – 5 October 2004) was a New Zealand-born British biophysicist and Nobel laureate whose research...
to disagreement with her director, John Randall, and her colleague MauriceWilkins, Franklin was compelled to move to Birkbeck College in 1953. Franklin...
showed the photograph to MauriceWilkins (who would become Gosling's advisor after Franklin left). A few days later, Wilkins showed the photo to James...
Hartley's novel The Go-Between. The same year, he played the role of MauriceWilkins in Anna Ziegler's play Photograph 51, with Michael Billington writing:...
biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and MauriceWilkins played crucial roles in deciphering the helical structure of the DNA...
supervision of MauriceWilkins and Rosalind Franklin. The crystallographic experiments of Franklin and Gosling, together with others by Wilkins, produced data...
Mac MauriceWilkins (born November 15, 1950) is an American athlete, who competed mainly in the discus throw. He was born in Eugene, Oregon and graduated...
dropped the arrangement after protestations from Francis Crick and MauriceWilkins, co-discoverers of the structure of DNA, and it was published instead...
the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. Watson, Crick and MauriceWilkins were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their...
64.2.600. PMC 223386. PMID 5261036. "James Watson, Francis Crick, MauriceWilkins, and Rosalind Franklin". Science History Institute. Archived from the...
previous research done by Franklin, which was conveyed to them by MauriceWilkins and Max Perutz. Their work led to the discovery of DNA in other microorganisms...
inspired the work of Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, Francis Crick, and MauriceWilkins on the structure of DNA, which in turn made it possible for geneticists...
House. ISBN 978-0-09-945184-6. Wilkins M (2003). The third man of the double helix the autobiography of MauriceWilkins. Cambridge, England: University...
determined in 1953 by James Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin and MauriceWilkins, following by developing techniques which allow to read DNA sequences...
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, together with Francis Crick and MauriceWilkins, "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic...
Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam: A Life in Physics 1998 MauriceWilkinsMauriceWilkins: The Third Man of the Double Helix 2003 Isaak Khalatnikov From...
Rick Wilkins (baseball) (born 1967), American baseball player Dick Wilkins (Richard MauriceWilkins), American football player Richard Wilkins (Buffy...
Henricus van 't Hoff, Chemistry, 1901 Alan MacDiarmid, Chemistry, 2000 MauriceWilkins, Physiology or Medicine, 1962 Ernest Rutherford*, Chemistry, 1908 Wole...
The first group to start was at King's College London and was led by MauriceWilkins and was later joined by Rosalind Franklin. Another group consisting...
Owen. Having received a University of Wales fellowship, Wilson joined MauriceWilkins at King's College London in September 1952. The work involved X-ray...
National Library of Medicine. Wilkins, Maurice (2003). The Third Man of the Double Helix: The Autobiography of MauriceWilkins. Oxford University Press. p...
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