X-Nico

5 unusual facts about Maurice Wilkins


Maurice Wilkins

At King's College Wilkins pursued, among other things, x-ray diffraction work on ram sperm and DNA that had been obtained from calf thymus by the Swiss scientist Rudolf Signer.

He studied physics, within the Natural Sciences Tripos, and received a B.A. Mark Oliphant who was one of Wilkin's tutors at St. John's had been appointed to the Chair of Physics at the University of Birmingham, and had appointed John Randall to his staff.

Pongaroa

The vicinity has a claim to fame as the birthplace of scientist Maurice Wilkins (1916-2004).

The Double Helix

Wilkins, Maurice, The Third Man of the Double Helix: The Autobiography (2003), Oxford U Press, ISBN 0-19-860665-6

The edition was published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the award of the 1962 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine to Francis Crick, James D. Watson and Maurice Wilkins.


Photo 51

James Watson was shown the photo by Maurice Wilkins without Rosalind Franklin's approval or knowledge and along with Francis Crick, Watson used characteristics and features of Photo 51 to develop the chemical model of DNA molecule.

Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics

The Randall continues the tradition of Biophysics at King’s established by Sir John Randall, which produced the studies of the structure of DNA by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins.


see also