World of Genetics on Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins
Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins is best known for the assistance he provided to molecular biologists James D. Watson and Francis Crick in their quest to uncover the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the genetic blueprint of heredity in humans and many other organisms. Specifically, Wilkins' contribution to their discovery involved discerning the structure of DNA through the use of X-ray diffraction techniques. For his efforts, Wilkins shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with Watson and Crick.
Wilkins was born in Pongaroa, New Zealand to Irish immigrants Edgar Henry, a physician, and Eveline Constance Jane (Whittaker) Wilkins. Euperior education began at an early age for Wilkins, who began attending King Edward's School in Birmingham, England, at age six. He later received his B.A. in physics from Cambridge University in 1938. After graduation, he joined the Ministry of Home Security and Aircraft Production and was assigned to conduct graduate research on radar at the University of Birmingham. Wilkins' research centered on improving the accuracy of radar screens.
Soon after earning his Ph.D. in 1940, Wilkins, still with the Ministry of Home Security, was relocated to a new team of British scientists researching the application of uranium isotopes to atomic bombs. A short time later Wilkins became part of another team sent to the United States to work on the Manhattan Project--the military effort to develop the atomic bomb--with other scientists at the University of California at Berkeley. He spent two years there researching the separation of uranium isotopes.
Wilkins' interest in the intersection of physics and biology emerged soon after his arrival to the United States. He was significantly influenced by a book by Erwin Schrödinger, a fellow physicist, entitled What is Life? The Physical Aspects of the Living Cell. The book centers on the possibility that the science of quantum physics could lead to the understanding of the essence of life itself, including the process of biological growth. In addition to Schrödinger's book, the undeniable and undesirable ramifications of his work on the atomic bomb also played a role in Wilkins' declining interest in the field of nuclear physics and emerging interest in biology.
After the war, the opportunity arose for Wilkins to begin a career in biophysics. In 1945, Wilkins' former graduate school professor, Scottish physicist John T. Randall, invited him to become a physics lecturer at St. Andrews University, Scotland, in that school's new biophysics research unit. Later, in 1946, Wilkins and Randall moved on to a new research pursuit combining the sciences of physics, chemistry and biology to the study of living cells. Together they established the Medical Research Council Biophysics Unit at King's College in London. Wilkins was, for a time, informally the second in command. He officially became deputy director of the unit in 1955 and was promoted to director in 1970, a position he held until 1972.
It was at this biophysics unit, in 1946, that Wilkins soon concentrated his research on DNA, shortly after scientists at the Rockefeller Institute (now Rockefeller University) in New York announced that DNA is the constituent of genes. Realizing the enormous importance of the DNA molecule, Wilkins became excited about uncovering its precise structure. He was prepared to attack this project by a number of different methods. However, he fortuitously discovered that the particular makeup of DNA, specifically the uniformity of its fibers, made it an excellent specimen for x-ray diffraction studies. X-ray diffraction is an extremely useful method for photographing atom arrangements in molecules. The regularly-spaced atoms of the molecule actually diffract the x rays, creating a picture from which the sizing and spacing of the atoms within the molecule can be deduced. This was the tool used by Wilkins to help unravel the structure of DNA.
Physical chemist Rosalind Franklin joined Wilkins in 1951. Franklin, who had been conducting research in Paris, was adept in X-ray diffraction. Although their personal relationship was not ideal, (Franklin was more outgoing whereas Wilkins was a quiet, non-confrontational person), together they were able to retrieve some very high quality DNA patterns. One initial and important outcome of their research was that phosphate groups were located outside of the structure, which overturned Linus Pauling 's theory that they were on the inside. In another important finding, Wilkins thought the photographs suggested a helical structure, although Franklin hesitated to draw that conclusion. Subsequently, Wilkins, some say unbeknownst to Franklin, passed on to Watson one of the best X-ray pictures Franklin had taken of DNA. These DNA images provided clues to Watson and Crick, who used the pictures to solve the last piece of the DNA structure puzzle.
Consequently, in 1953, Watson and Crick were able to reconstruct the famous double-helix structure of DNA. Their model shows that DNA is composed of two strands of alternating units of sugar and phosphate on the outside, with pairs of bases--including the molecular compounds adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine--inside, bonded by hydrogen. It is important to note that while Wilkins' contribution to the discernment DNA's structure is undeniable, controversy surrounds the fact that Franklin was not recognized for this scientific breakthrough, particularly in terms of the Nobel Prize. Some feel that Franklin, who died of cancer in 1958, did not receive due recognition, whereas others maintain that it was solely Watson's ability to discern the structure in Franklin's photograph that made possible the discovery of the DNA structure.
The knowledge of the DNA structure, which has been described as resembling a spiral staircase, has provided the impetus for advanced research in the field of genetics. For example, scientists can now determine predispositions for certain diseases based on the presence of certain genes. Also, the exciting but sometimes controversial area of genetic engineerng has developed.
Wilkins, Watson, and Crick were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine for their work which uncovered the structure of hereditary material DNA. After winning the Nobel Prize, Wilkins focused next on elucidating the structure of ribonucleic acids (RNA)--a compound like DNA associated with the control of cellular chemical activities--and, later, nerve cell membranes. In 1962 he was able to show that RNA also had a helical structure somewhat similar to that of DNA. Besides his directorship appointments at the Medical Research Council's Biophysics Unit, Wilkins was also appointed director of the Council's Neurobiology Unit, a post he held from 1974 to 1980. Additionally, he was a professor at King's College, teaching molecular biology from 1963 to 1970 and then biophysics as the department head from 1970 to 1982. In 1981, he was named professor emeritus at King's College. Utilizing some of his professional expertise for social causes, Wilkins has maintained membership in the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science (of which he is president), the Russell Committee against Chemical Weapons, and Food and Disarmament International.
Wilkins is an honorary member of the American Society of Biological Chemists and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was also honored with the 1960 Albert Lasker Award of the American Public Health Association (given jointly to Wilkins, Watson, and Crick), and was named Fellow of the Royal Society of King's College in 1959.
Wilkins, known to be a quiet and polite man, married Patricia Ann Chidgey in 1959. The couple have four children, two sons and two daughters.
Recent Updates
October 5, 2004: Wilkins died on October 5, 2004, in London, England. He was 87. Source:New York Times, www.nytimes.com, October 11, 2004.
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