Maurice Wilkins

Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins was born in New Zealand in 1916. At the age of 6, he returned to England with his parents for education. After graduating from Cambridge University, he went to the University of Birmingham as Professor Randall's assistant. After being selected to participate in the "Manhattan Project" in the United States. After returning to the United Kingdom from the United States, he worked on the analysis of DNA X-rays at the Royal College in London. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1962. He died in hospital on October 5, 2004 at the age of 87.

Wilkins and Franklin (R. Franklin, 1920-1958) played a very important role in the establishment of DNA molecular models. Wilkins was a New Zealand physicist who began his research in biophysics in the 1940s. In 1950, he began to study the crystal structure of DNA and adopted the "X-ray diffraction method". They took the first DNA fiber diffraction diagram (A-type diagram), proving that DNA molecules have a single-stranded helical structure. This played an important role in the establishment of molecular models of DNA.

He focused on phosphorescent, radar, isotope separation and X-ray diffraction. While at King's College London, he unraveled the structure of DNA molecules and related research that earned him the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along with Francis Crick and James Watson. His colleague at King's, Rosalynn Franklin, was a major contributor to the research, but died of illness.