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more general categories information about this item 10. Noble Prize 10. Noble Prize Physiology or Medicine (216) 11. Award Year 11. Award Year 1960s (79) 1962 (8) 12. Winner Type 12. Winner Type Person (904) 13. Gender 13. Gender Male (853) 14. Birth Year 14. Birth Year 1910s (117) 1916 (11) 15. Place of Birth 15. Place of Birth Pacific Ocean islands (3) New Zealand (3) Pongaroa (1) 16. Death Year 16. Death Year 2000s (70) 2004 (12) 17. Place of Death 17. Place of Death Europe (331) Europe, western (182) United Kingdom (86) Blackheath (1) 19. Given Name 19. Given Name L-R (240) M (50) 20. Family Name 20. Family Name S-Z (212) W (44) 21. Shared Given Name 21. Shared Given Name L-R (156) M (30) Maurice (3) 23. Religion 23. Religion z-Missing value reason (465) Source data not available (465) 24. Age at Award Time 24. Age at Award Time 40 - 49 (140) 47 (22) 32. Occupations 32. Occupations Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations (601) Life Scientists (181) Biological Scientists (181) 34. Citizens 34. Citizens Pacific Ocean islands (3) New Zealand (3) 37. Worked for College or University 37. Worked for College or University Europe (232) Europe, western (125) United Kingdom (64) London (19) London University (7) 42. Affilliation with College or University 42. Affilliation with College or University Europe (535) Europe, western (390) United Kingdom (235) Birmingham (11) University of Birmingham (11) Alumni (4) Cambridge (118) University of Cambridge (118) Alumni (69) London (82) King's College (12) Long-term academic staff (5) North America (529) United States (521) Western states (262) California (253) University of California (159) Berkeley (107) University of California, Berkeley (107) Short-term academic staff (51) 43. Affilliation with Secondary School 43. Affilliation with Secondary School Europe (60) Europe, western (50) United Kingdom (27) Birmingham (3) King Edward's School (2) 44. Memberships 44. Memberships A-D (656) A (635) American Academy of Arts and Sciences (531) E-P (571) E (61) European Molecular Biology Organization (51) R-T (460) R (448) Royal Society (294) 45. Other Awards 45. Other Awards A-B (362) A (285) Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (84) C-D (404) C (272) Commander of the Order of the British Empire (13) E-F (439) E (135) EMBO Membership (17) F (394) Fellow of the Royal Society (101) complete name: Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins nobel prize: medicine award year: 1962 together with: James D. Watson together with: Francis Crick prize share: Prize share: 1/3 rational: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962 was awarded jointly to Francis Harry Compton Crick, James Dewey Watson and Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material." biography: Biography laureate facts: Facts laureate lecture: Lecture given name: Maurice family name: Wilkins occupation: physician occupation: physicist occupation: biologist occupation: biophysicist field of work: molecular biology field of work: phosphorescence field of work: X-ray crystallography field of work: isotope separation field of work: microscopy work location: University of California, Berkeley, 200 California Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States of America description: Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins was a New Zealand-born British physicist and molecular biologist, and Nobel Laureate whose research contributed to the scientific understanding of phosphorescence, isotope separation, optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction, and to the development of radar. He is best known for his work at King's College London on the structure of DNA which falls into two distinct phases. The first was in 1948-50 where 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 of work (1951-52) he produced clear "B form" "X" shaped images from squid sperm which he sent to James Watson and Francis Crick causing Watson to write "Wilkins... has obtained extremely excellent X-ray diffraction photographs" [of DNA]. In 1953, Wilkins' colleague Rosalind Franklin instructed Raymond Gosling to hand over a high quality image of "B" form DNA (Photo 51), which she had made in 1952 but had “put it aside”, to Wilkins as she was leaving King's College London. Wilkins imprudently showed it to Watson. This image, along with the knowledge that Linus Pauling had proposed an incorrect structure of DNA, “mobilised” 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 model and to study the structure of RNA. 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." image copyright: Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive. image citation: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2018. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1962/summary/> date birth: 1916 date death: 2004 usual name: Maurice Wilkins
