|
Maurice Wilkins was born in Pongaroa, New Zealand, in 1916, and moved to England
when he was six years old. He believes that he got his love of exploration and
adventure during his early years in New Zealand. These traits have proved to be
useful in his career as a scientist.
He studied physics as an undergraduate at
St. John's College in Cambridge. He
graduated from Cambridge in 1938. He went to work with John Randall at
Birmingham
University on improving the radar systems used during World War II. Some of the
work he did then is still used in radar systems today.
In 1943, the physics department at Birmingham University, including Maurice
Wilkins, moved to Berkeley, California to work on the Manhattan Project. At the
time, this project to design and build an atomic bomb was all part of the war effort.
However, after the devastating effects of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
Maurice Wilkins became and continues to be against the use of nuclear weapons.
After the war, Maurice Wilkins became a physics lecturer at
St. Andrews' University,
where he was reunited with John Randall. John Randall wanted to use physics to study
biological problems, and was offered a full professorship at
King's College in
London. He accepted the job and set up the Medical Research Council Biophysics
Research Unit, with Maurice Wilkins as one of his members of staff.
At King's College, London, Maurice Wilkins studied biological molecules like DNA
and viruses. He used lots of different methods and machines. Eventually he began
using X-rays to make images of DNA molecules. The X-ray diffraction images produced
by him, Rosalind Franklin, and Raymond Gosling led to
the discovery of the structure
of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick.
In 1962, Maurice Wilkins shared the
Nobel Prize for Physiology
or Medicine with James Watson and Francis Crick.
Maurice Wilkins is still teaching (part time) at King's College, London. He was
made a Companion of the British Empire in 1962 and has won other awards and prizes
for his work. He collects sculptures and is fond of gardening.
|
