| more general categories |
information about this item |
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| 10. Noble Prize |
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10. Noble Prize |
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Physiology or Medicine (216) |
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| 11. Award Year |
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11. Award Year |
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1962 (8) |
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| 12. Winner Type |
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12. Winner Type |
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Person (904) |
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| 13. Gender |
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13. Gender |
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Male (853) |
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| 14. Birth Year |
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14. Birth Year |
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1916 (11) |
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| 15. Place of Birth |
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15. Place of Birth |
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Pongaroa (1) |
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| 16. Death Year |
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16. Death Year |
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2004 (12) |
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| 17. Place of Death |
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17. Place of Death |
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Blackheath (1) |
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| 19. Given Name |
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19. Given Name |
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M (50) |
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| 20. Family Name |
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20. Family Name |
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W (44) |
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| 21. Shared Given Name |
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21. Shared Given Name |
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Maurice (3) |
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| 23. Religion |
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23. Religion |
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Source data not available (465) |
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| 24. Age at Award Time |
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24. Age at Award Time |
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47 (22) |
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| 32. Occupations |
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32. Occupations |
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Biological Scientists (181) |
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| 34. Citizens |
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34. Citizens |
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New Zealand (3) |
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| 37. Worked for College or University |
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37. Worked for College or University |
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London University (7) |
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| 42. Affilliation with College or University |
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42. Affilliation with College or University |
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Alumni (4) |
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Alumni (69) |
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Long-term academic staff (5) |
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Short-term academic staff (51) |
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| 43. Affilliation with Secondary School |
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43. Affilliation with Secondary School |
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King Edward's School (2) |
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| 44. Memberships |
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44. Memberships |
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American Academy of Arts and Sciences (531) |
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European Molecular Biology Organization (51) |
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Royal Society (294) |
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| 45. Other Awards |
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45. Other Awards |
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Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (84) |
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Commander of the Order of the British Empire (13) |
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EMBO Membership (17) |
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Fellow of the Royal Society (101) |
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| 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 |
