Maurice Wilkins

See also: Wilkins

Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins (December 15th 1916 - October 5th 2004) is a British Physicien of New Zealand origin mainly known for its work on the X-rays.

Wilkins was born with Pongaroa, in the north of Wairarapa, New Zealand. Arrived at the the United Kingdom at the six years age, he studied the Physique with the St John' S College of Cambridge, then in 1940 it accepted its doctorate of physics to the Université of Birmingham. During the Second world war, he works on the Projet Manhattan with the the University of California to Berkeley before turning over to the King' S College of London.

In King' S College it continued, among other things, work on the diffraction of the x-rays. It is its work, as that of his/her colleague Rosalind Franklin who led James Watson and Francis Crick to propose the structure of DNA in 1953. It showed that the structure in double helix that they had proposed was correct, thanks to the stereotypes of Rosalind Franklin. The role of this one had completely overlooked by his/her three colleagues. She died of a cancer in 1958, consequently Wilkins, Watson and Crick claimed that its role had been limited to that of a laboratory assistant.

In 1962, it divides the Nobel Prize of medicine with Watson and Crick. It remained in King' S College.

See too

External bonds

Biography
Biography
the molecule of DNA to the shape of a double helix: chapter 19 of the site It was once… the DNA. This chapter contains an animation describing the experiments which made it possible to découvir the structure in form of double helix of the DNA. The heading Bio contains the biographies of James Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins.

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