PHYSICIST

Maurice Wilkins

1916 - 2004

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Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins (15 December 1916 – 5 October 2004) was a New Zealand-born British biophysicist and Nobel laureate whose research spanned multiple areas of physics and biophysics, contributing to the scientific understanding of phosphorescence, isotope separation, optical microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. He is most noted for initiating and leading early X-ray diffraction studies on DNA at King's College London, and for his pivotal role in enabling the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. Wilkins began investigating nucleic acids in 1948. By 1950, he and his team had produced some of the first high-quality X-ray diffraction images of DNA fibers. He presented this work in 1951 at a conference in Naples, where it significantly influenced James Watson, prompting Watson to pursue DNA structure research with Francis Crick. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Maurice Wilkins is the 206th most popular physicist (down from 154th in 2019), the 4th most popular biography from New Zealand and the 2nd most popular New Zealander Physicist.

Maurice Wilkins is most famous for his work with Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, and Francis Crick in discovering the double helix structure of DNA.

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Among PHYSICISTS

Among physicists, Maurice Wilkins ranks 206 out of 851. Before him are David Brewster, Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov, Kip Thorne, Hugh Everett III, Klaus von Klitzing, and Karl Schwarzschild. After him are Murray Gell-Mann, Theodor W. Hänsch, Edward Mills Purcell, James Cronin, Francesco Maria Grimaldi, and David Lee.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1916, Maurice Wilkins ranks 26. Before him are Christian B. Anfinsen, Camilo José Cela, Claude Shannon, Frederick Chapman Robbins, Hans Eysenck, and Sune Bergström. After him are Harold Wilson, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Walt Whitman Rostow, Tsutomu Yamaguchi, Alexander Prokhorov, and Paul Keres. Among people deceased in 2004, Maurice Wilkins ranks 23. Before him are Christopher Reeve, Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Janet Leigh, and Sune Bergström. After him are Akhmad Kadyrov, Helmut Newton, Stieg Larsson, Laura Branigan, Julius Axelrod, and Carlos Kleiber.

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In New Zealand

Among people born in New Zealand, Maurice Wilkins ranks 4 out of 303. Before him are Ernest Rutherford (1871), Edmund Hillary (1919), and Russell Crowe (1964). After him are Bruce McLaren (1937), Peter Jackson (1961), Alan MacDiarmid (1927), Katherine Mansfield (1888), Denny Hulme (1936), Rosé (1997), Anthony Wilding (1883), and William Phillips (1914).

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Among PHYSICISTS In New Zealand

Among physicists born in New Zealand, Maurice Wilkins ranks 2. Before him are Ernest Rutherford (1871).

New Zealander born Physicists

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