The Third Man of the Double Helix: The Autobiography of Maurice Wilkins (Popular Science)

Quick, who won the Nobel Prize for discovering the double helical structure of DNA? Most people would say Watson and Crick. But most people would make Maurice Wilkins very upset. The Rodney Dangerfield of biology, Wilkins shared the prize with Watson and Crick but missed out on the limelight, due largely to Watson's hit book, The Double Helix. Wilkins thought the book was so misleading he asked Harvard University Press not to publish it. Things have quieted down a bit now, and Wilkins is now telling the story his way. This book tells how he showed his colleagues the x-ray picture that gave them their crucial insight, and about his interactions with Rosalind Franklin, the researcher who actually created the picture, and who also received very little credit for her role in the discovery. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the DNA discovery. Finally Wilkins gets to have his say. Working with Watson and Crick on the structure of DNA was a third man, Maurice Wilkins, based at King's College London with co-worker Rosalind Franklin. Franklin died in 1958 and the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the Double Helix was awarded to the three men in 1962. As Maurice Wilkins explains in The Third Man of the Double Helix, ' the Franklin/Wilkins story has often been told as an example of the unjustness of male scientists towards their women colleagues, and questions have. been raised over whether credit was distributed fairly when the Nobel Prize was awarded. I have found this situation distressing over the years, and I expect this book is in some ways my attempt to respond to these questions, and to tell my side of that story.' - ;Francis Crick and Jim Watson are well known for their discovery of the structure of DNA in Cambridge in 1953. But they shared the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the Double Helix with a third man, Maurice Wilkins, a diffident physicist who did not enjoy the limelight. He and his team at King's College London had painstakingly measured the angles, bonds, and orientations of the DNA structure - data that inspired Crick and Watson's celebrated model - and they then spent many years. demonstrating that Crick and Watson were right before the Prize was awarded in 1962. Wilkins's career had already embraced another momentous and highly controversial scientific achievement - he had worked during World War II on the atomic bomb project - and he was to face a new controversy in the 1970s. when his co-worker at King's, the late Rosalind Franklin, was proclaimed the unsung heroine of the DNA story, and he was accused of exploiting her work. Now aged 86, Maurice Wilkins marks the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of the Double Helix by telling, for the first time, his own story of the discovery of the DNA structure "Francis Crick and Jim Watson are well known for their discovery of the structure of DNA in Cambridge in 1953. But they shared the Nobel Prize for their discovery of the Double Helix with a third man, Maurice Wilkins, a diffident physicist who did not enjoy the limelight. He and his team at King's College London had painstakingly measured the angles, bonds, and orientations of the DNA structure - data that inspired Crick and Watson's celebrated model - and they then spent many years demonstrating that Crick and Watson were right before the Prize was awarded in 1962. Wilkin's career had already embraced another momentous and highly controversial scientific achievement - he had worked during World War II on the atomic bomb project - and he was to face a new controversy in the 1970s when his co-worker at King's, the late Rosalind Franklin, was proclaimed the unsung heroine of the DNA story, and he was accused of exploiting her work." "Now aged 86, Maurice Wilkins marks the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of the Double Helix by telling, for the first time, his own story of the discovery of the DNA structure and his relationship with Rosalind Franklin. He also describes a life and career spanning many continents, from his idyllic early childhood in New Zealand via the Birmingham suburbs to Cambridge, Berkeley, and London, and recalls his encounters with distinguished scientists including Arthur Eddington, Niels Bohr, and J.D. Bernal. He also reflects on the role of scientists in a world still coping with the Bomb and facing the implications of the gene revolution, and considers, in this intimate history, the successes, problems, and politics of nearly a century of science."--Jacket. Francis Crick and Jim Watson are well known for their discovery of the structure of DNA in Cambridge in 1953. But they shared the Nobel Prize for their discovery of the Double Helix with a third man, Maurice Wilkins, a diffident physicist who did not enjoy the limelight. He and his team at King's College London had painstakingly measured the angles, bonds, and orientations of the DNA structure -- data that inspired Crick and Watson's celebrated model -- and they then spent many years demonstrating that Crick and Watson were right before the Prize was awarded in 1962. Wilkins's career had already embraced another momentous and highly controversial scientific achievement -- he had worked during World War II on the atomic bomb project -- and he was to face a new controversy in the 1970s when his co-worker at King's, the late Rosalind Franklin, was proclaimed the unsung heroine of the DNA story, and he was accused of exploiting her work. Now aged 86, Maurice Wilkins marks the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of the Double Helix by telling, for the first time, his own story of the discovery of the DNA structure and his relationship with Rosalind Franklin. He also describes a life and career spanning many continents, from his idyllic early childhood in New Zealand via the Birmingham suburbs to Cambridge, Berkeley, and London, and recalls his encounters with distinguished scientists including Arthur Eddington, Niels Bohr, and J. D. Bernal. He also reflects on the role of scientists in a world still coping with the Bomb and facing the implications of the gene revolution, and considers, in this intimate history, the successes, problems, and politics of nearly a century of science. The Nobel Prize for the discovery of the structure of DNA was given to three scientists - James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins. It was the experimental work of Wilkins and his colleague Rosalind Franklin that provided the clues to the structure. Here, Wilkins, who died in 2004, gives us his own account of his life, his early work in physics, the tensions and exhilaration of working on DNA, and his much discussed difficult relationship with his colleague Rosalind. This is a highly readable, and often moving account from a highly distinguished scientist who played one of the key roles in the historic discovery of the molecule behind inheritance. Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 List of plates......Page 13 1 Distant shores......Page 16 2 Finding my feet......Page 45 3 In a world at war......Page 74 4 Randall's circus......Page 102 5 Crystal genes......Page 129 6 Go back to your microscopes!......Page 155 7 How does DNA keep its secrets?......Page 183 8 The double helix......Page 211 9 Living with the double helix......Page 237 10 A broader view......Page 261 Plate Section ......Page 290 B......Page 282 D......Page 283 F......Page 284 K......Page 285 O......Page 286 S......Page 287 W......Page 288 Z......Page 289 "Working with Watson and Crick on the structure of DNA was a third man, Maurice Wilkins, based at King's College London with co-worker Rosalind Franklin. Franklin died in 1958 and the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the Double-Helix was awarded to the three men in 1962." "Maurice Wilkins, who died in 2004, reflects in his autobiography on the events surrounding the discovery, and also on the wider role of scientists in a world still coping with the Bomb and facing the implications of the gene revolution."--Jacket