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Maurice Wilkins
A New Zealand scientist working to make an international difference
In 1953 the double helix structure of DNA was discovered. DNA is the double-stranded molecule that carries all the genetic information of an organism. Each strand consists of alternating deoxyribose, with attached bases (adenine, thymine, guanine or cytosine), and phosphate groups. Sequences along DNA’s deoxyribose-phosphate backbone (genes) code for specific proteins for trait expression or cellular functions. The discovery that DNA is shaped like a twisted ladder was very significant because it provided crucial information on how genetic information is stored and replicated.
“It is essential for genetic material to be able to make exact copies of itself; otherwise growth would produce disorder, life could not originate, and favourable forms would not be perpetuated by natural selection.” (Wilkins, 1962)
Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins was born 15th December 1916, in Pongaroa, Wairarapa, New Zealand. At age six, he moved to England and completed a degree in Physics at St John’s College, Cambridge, in 1938. In 1940, Maurice Wilkins did a PhD in Physics at the University of Birmingham.
During WWII he worked on radar technology and later participated in the Manhattan Project. The Manhattan project was a top-secret US effort to develop the atomic bomb during WWII. Maurice Wilkins focused on uranium isotope separation. After the war, Maurice Wilkins, influenced by Erwin Schrodinger’s book What is Life? The Physical Aspects of the Living Cell, transitioned his interests from Physics to studying Biology. He entered the field of Biophysics, joining the Biophysics Research Unit at King’s College in 1946.
In 1950, a European Biochemist named Rudolph Signer produced pure DNA, which he made available to anyone wishing to study the molecule. Maurice Wilkins used this DNA in collaboration with Raymond Gosling, a British scientist, to produce X-ray diffraction images of DNA, which revealed its helical structure. Work by Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling during 1951 and 1952 demonstrated that the sodium salt of DNA prepared by Rudolph Signer could exist in two distinct structures, A and B depending on the water content. This pointed to the key significance of phosphate groups for the structure. Rosalind Franklin took ‘Photograph 51', which provided crucial evidence for the helical structure of DNA.
Maurice Wilkins shared critical data with James Watson on 31st January 1953, including ‘Photograph 51’, which aided James Watson and Francis Crick in proposing the double-helix model. Using ‘Photograph 51’ and research from King’s College, James Watson and Francis Crick discovered that base adenine pairs with thymine and guanine with cytosine through hydrogen-bonding, a discovery now known as complementary base pairing.[1] On 25th April 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick published the now famous model of the double helix in the prestigious science magazine, Nature, using the work of Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin.
Maurice Wilkins spent the next 15 years improving the x-ray data with his colleagues to ensure the double-helix model was correct. In 1962, Maurice Wilkins was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine alongside James Watson and Francis Crick for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids.
The discovery of the double helix laid the groundwork for modern genetics, biotechnology and forensics, leading to breakthroughs in areas like gene therapy and the mapping of the human genome. The discovery continues to revolutionise the field of genetic research and medicine.
"It is important to remember that all the really relevant experimental work on X-ray diffraction patterns of DNA fibres was done by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins and their co-workers." (Crick, 2001)
