Maurice Wilkins

Maurice Wilkins (1916–2004) was a New Zealand-born British physicist and molecular biologist whose X-ray diffraction studies of DNA contributed to establishing its double-helix structure.

Rosalind Franklin: A British chemist whose X-ray diffraction images and analysis revealed key features of DNA’s structure. Her King’s College research produced DNA diffraction data that informed Wilkins’s structural work.
X-ray crystallography: A method for determining atomic structure by analyzing how crystals diffract X-rays. Wilkins’s experiments applied diffraction methods to DNA fibers rather than conventional crystals.
Photograph 51: A distinctive X-ray diffraction image of DNA fibers made by Raymond Gosling under Rosalind Franklin’s supervision in 1952. Wilkins showed the image to James Watson, providing striking evidence of DNA’s helical form.
1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: The Nobel Prize awarded to Francis Crick, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins for discoveries concerning DNA’s molecular structure. The award formally recognized Wilkins’s contribution alongside the double-helix model’s authors.
James Watson: An American molecular biologist who, with Francis Crick, proposed the DNA double-helix model in 1953. Wilkins shared DNA evidence with Watson and Crick during their model-building effort.
X-ray diffraction: The scattering of X-rays by matter into patterns that reveal information about its structure. DNA’s diffraction patterns supplied the structural measurements central to Wilkins’s research.
King’s College London DNA research: The DNA research conducted by physicists and chemists at King’s College London during the 1950s. Wilkins led one of the research groups whose results contributed to the structure’s discovery.
DNA structure controversy: Disputes about credit, collaboration, and access to evidence during the discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure. Wilkins’s relationship with Franklin and the circulation of her data became central to debates over credit.
Francis Crick: A British molecular biologist who co-developed the double-helix model of DNA with James Watson. His collaboration with Watson drew on diffraction findings associated with Wilkins and Franklin.
DNA fiber diffraction: A diffraction method that uses aligned DNA fibers to infer repeating features of DNA molecules. Wilkins used this approach to investigate DNA’s helical organization.

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