Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins

Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins was born on December 15, 1916, in Pongaroa, New Zealand. He was the son of Edgar Henry Wilkins and Eveline Whittaker. His family moved to Birmingham, United Kingdom when he was a young child. Wilkins went on to become a distinguished biophysicist and is best known for his work on the structure of DNA, which played a crucial role in the discovery of its double-helix form.

In 1944, during World War II, Maurice Wilkins was sent to the United States to work on the Manhattan Project, the secret Allied project to develop the atomic bomb. Wilkins worked at a laboratory led by John Randall at the University of St Andrews, which was part of the British effort to contribute to the project. His work there involved the mass spectrograph and uranium isotope separation using electromagnetic separation. The project marked a significant period in Wilkins' early scientific career.

After World War II, Maurice Wilkins returned to academia in 1945 at King's College London, where he would begin the research that led to the discovery of the DNA structure. At King's College, Wilkins started to investigate the structure of DNA using X-ray diffraction. His work laid the foundation for the later groundbreaking studies that contributed to the understanding of DNA's role in genetics and cellular processes.

Maurice Wilkins began his pioneering research on DNA in 1950 at King's College London. Using X-ray crystallography, Wilkins and his colleague, Rosalind Franklin, made crucial contributions by producing clear X-ray diffraction images of DNA fibers. These images suggested the helical structure of DNA, which pointed future research in the right direction and led directly to the discovery of the DNA double helix by Watson and Crick.

In May 1952, Maurice Wilkins, along with Rosalind Franklin, produced what would become known as Photograph 51, an X-ray diffraction image of crystallized DNA. This photograph was one of the most critical pieces of evidence for identifying the double helix structure of DNA. It was later shared, without Franklin's direct knowledge, with James Watson and Francis Crick, aiding their groundbreaking 1953 model of DNA's structure.

Maurice Wilkins was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on October 18, 1962, alongside James Watson and Francis Crick, for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material. Wilkins' work on X-ray diffraction and his role in elucidating the DNA structure were instrumental in this scientific achievement, marking it as a landmark moment in biology and chemistry.

In 1970, Maurice Wilkins became the director of the Medical Research Council Biophysics Unit at King's College London. Under his leadership, the unit continued to contribute significantly to the field of biophysics. Wilkins' administrative and scientific guidance helped advance the study of biological structures and laid the groundwork for future biophysical research.

In 1976, Maurice Wilkins was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to science. This honor reflected his status as a preeminent scientist whose work had a profound impact on the understanding of biological molecules. Wilkins' contributions to the discovery of the DNA structure were recognized as pivotal in shaping modern genetics.

On June 26, 2000, the completion of a working draft of the Human Genome Project was announced. Maurice Wilkins' earlier work on DNA was instrumental in the understanding of genetic material that led to such monumental scientific achievements. The project aimed to map all human genes and was considered a landmark in genomic studies, paving the way for future medical advances.

Maurice Wilkins passed away on October 5, 2004, in Blackheath, London, United Kingdom. At the time of his death, he was remembered as a pioneering physicist and molecular biologist whose work on the structure of DNA had revolutionized biology and genetics. His contributions to science earned him numerous accolades, and he left a lasting legacy as one of the key figures in the discovery of the DNA structure.