Double Helix Discovery

William Astbury

Oswald Avery

Francis Crick

Erwin Chargaff

Max Delbrück

Jerry Donohue

Rosalind Franklin

Raymond Gosling

Phoebus Levene

Linus Pauling

Sir John Randall

Erwin Schrödinger

Alec Stokes

James Watson

Maurice Wilkins

Herbert Wilson

Alec Stokes (Alexander Rawson Stokes, June 27, 1919–February 5, 2003) was one of the key contributors in the original DNA research team at King's College London. Stokes worked alongside Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin, Raymond Gosling, and Herbert Wilson, to determine the structure of DNA in the 1950s. Image File history File links Dna-split2. ... The Discovery of the DNA Double Helix Molecular structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid by James D. Watson and Francis H. Crick. ... The Discovery of the DNA Double Helix Molecular structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid by James D. Watson and Francis H. Crick. ... William Astbury (1898-1961) was an English biochemist who made X-ray diffraction studies of nucleic acid in 1937. ... Oswald Avery in 1937 Oswald Theodore Avery (1877-1955) was a physician, medical researcher and early molecular biologist. ... Professor Francis Harry Compton Crick, OM FRS (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was a British physicist, molecular biologist and neuroscientist, most noted for being one of the co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953. ... Erwin Chargaff (August 11, 1905 – June 20, 2002) was an Austrian biochemist. ... Max Delbrück (September 4, 1906 - March 9, 1981) was a German biologist. ... Jerry Donohue June 12, 1920 — February 13, 1985 was a theoretical and physical chemist, who is best remembered for steering James D. Watson and Francis Crick towards the correct structure of DNA with some crucial information. ... Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958) was a British physical chemist and crystallographer who made very important contributions to the understanding of the fine structures of coal and graphite, DNA and viruses. ... Raymond Gosling is a distinguished scientist who worked with both Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin at Kings College London in deducing the structure of DNA. He was born in 1926 and attended school in Wembley. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Linus Carl Pauling (February 28, 1901 – August 19, 1994) was an American quantum chemist and biochemist, widely regarded as the premier chemist of the twentieth century. ... Sir John Randall (March 23, 1905 – June 16, 1984) was a British physicist, credited with radical improvement of cavity magnetron, an essential component of the centimetre radar, which was one of the keys to the Allied victory in the Second World War. ... Erwin Schrödinger, as depicted on the former Austrian 1000 Schilling bank note. ... James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is one of the discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule. ... Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins (December 15, 1916 – October 5, 2004) was a New Zealand-born physicist and Nobel Laureate who contributed research in the fields of phosphorescence, radar, isotope separation, and X-ray diffraction. ... Professor Herbert Wilson (1929 —) is a physicist, who was one of the original team who worked on the structure of DNA at Kings College London. ... June 27 is the 178th day of the year (179th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 187 days remaining. ... 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... February 5 is the 36th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Kings College London in London is the largest and second longest serving member college in the federal University of London, with 21,300 registered students (2003-04). ... Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins (December 15, 1916 – October 5, 2004) was a New Zealand-born physicist and Nobel Laureate who contributed research in the fields of phosphorescence, radar, isotope separation, and X-ray diffraction. ... Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958) was a British physical chemist and crystallographer who made very important contributions to the understanding of the fine structures of coal and graphite, DNA and viruses. ... Raymond Gosling is a distinguished scientist who worked with both Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin at Kings College London in deducing the structure of DNA. He was born in 1926 and attended school in Wembley. ... Professor Herbert Wilson (1929 —) is a physicist, who was one of the original team who worked on the structure of DNA at Kings College London. ... The general structure of a section of DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid —usually in the form of a double helix— that contains the genetic instructions specifying the biological development of all cellular forms of life, and most viruses. ...

In 1993, on the 40th anniversary of the discovery of DNA, King's College London erected a special plaque in the Quad at the Strand campus to mark the College's contribution to the discovery. See [1]. From left: Raymond Gosling, Herbert Wilson, Maurice Wilkins and Alec Stokes.

Stokes was born in Macclesfield, England. Stokes received a first-class natural science tripos in 1940 at Trinity College, Cambridge and researched X-ray crystallography at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. He also lectured in physics at the Royal Holloway College, London before joining John Randall's team at King's College in 1947. His considerable understanding of x-ray diffraction processes led to his realisation of the helical structure of DNA. In fact, Maurice Wilkins had set him the task of working out what a helical structure would look like as an x-ray diffraction photograph and his brilliant mind was able to work this out through mathematical calculations in only a few hours during a train journey! Whilst Crick and Watson were describing the three-dimensional model they had built, Wilkins, Stokes and Wilson were publishing an article describing the experimental evidence for this structure^[2]; all three papers (including one by Franklin and Gosling) were published in "Nature" in April 1953. Location within the British Isles Macclesfield is a market town in Cheshire, England with a population of around 50,688 (2001 census for Macclesfield urban sub-area). ... Full name The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity Motto Virtus vera nobilitas Virtue is true Nobility Named after The Holy Trinity Previous names Kings Hall and Michaelhouse (until merged in 1546) Established 1546 Sister College(s) Christ Church Master The Lord Rees of Ludlow Location Trinity Street... Plaque The Cavendish Laboratory is Cambridge Universitys Department of Physics, and is part of the universitys School of Physical Sciences. ... Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL) is one of the larger colleges of the University of London. ... Sir John Randall (March 23, 1905 – June 16, 1984) was a British physicist, credited with radical improvement of cavity magnetron, an essential component of the centimetre radar, which was one of the keys to the Allied victory in the Second World War. ... X-ray crystallography is a technique in crystallography in which the pattern produced by the diffraction of X-rays through the closely spaced lattice of atoms in a crystal is recorded and then analyzed to reveal the nature of that lattice. ... The deepest visible-light image of the universe, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. ...

Unfortunately in his autobiography "The Third Man of The Double Helix", Maurice Wilkins does not specifically credit Stokes and Wilson as co-authors of their paper in "Nature"; whether this was deliberate on his part or just down to rather poor sub-editing by OUP is not known.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Stokes continued to work on large biological molecules, proving his exceptional mathematical skill. He retired from King's in 1982 and continued to work on publications, including the books 'The Theory of the Optical Properties of Inhomogeneous Materials' (1963) and 'The Principles of Atomic and Nuclear Physics' (1972).

His King's College London obituary

It is on page 17 of: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/ppro/comment/146.pdf

References

1. ↑  "Molecular Structure of Deoxypentose Nucleic Acids" by M. H. F. Wilkins, A.R. Stokes A.R. and H. R. Wilson in Nature (1953) volume 171 pages 738-740. Download the [http://www.nature.com/nature/dna50/wilkins.pdf full

text] in PDF format. First title page, November 4, 1869 Nature is one of the oldest and most reputable scientific journals, first published on 4 November 1869. ... PDF is an abbreviation with several meanings: Portable Document Format Post-doctoral fellowship Probability density function There also is an electronic design automation company named PDF Solutions. ...

DNA structure research at King's College London 1947-1959     Maurice Wilkins | Rosalind Franklin | Raymond Gosling | Alec Stokes | Herbert Wilson | John Randall|

KCL logo This is a copyrighted and/or trademarked logo. ... Kings College London in London is the largest and second longest serving member college in the federal University of London, with 21,300 registered students (2003-04). ... Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins (December 15, 1916 – October 5, 2004) was a New Zealand-born physicist and Nobel Laureate who contributed research in the fields of phosphorescence, radar, isotope separation, and X-ray diffraction. ... Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958) was a British physical chemist and crystallographer who made very important contributions to the understanding of the fine structures of coal and graphite, DNA and viruses. ... Raymond Gosling is a distinguished scientist who worked with both Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin at Kings College London in deducing the structure of DNA. He was born in 1926 and attended school in Wembley. ... Professor Herbert Wilson (1929 —) is a physicist, who was one of the original team who worked on the structure of DNA at Kings College London. ... Sir John Randall (March 23, 1905 – June 16, 1984) was a British physicist, credited with radical improvement of cavity magnetron, an essential component of the centimetre radar, which was one of the keys to the Allied victory in the Second World War. ... Selfmade icon displaying a DNA double helix. ...

Books featuring Alec Stokes

• Chomet, S. (Ed.), D.N.A. Genesis of a Discovery, 1994, Newman- Hemisphere Press, London; NB a few copies are available from Newman-Hemisphere at 101 Swan Court, London SW3 5RY(phone: 07092 060530).
• Wilkins, Maurice, The Third Man of the Double Helix: The Autobiography of Maurice Wilkins ISBN 0198606656.
• Ridley, Matt; "Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code (Eminent Lives)" will be first published in July 2006 in the USA and then in the U.K. September 2006, by HarperCollins Publishers; 192 pp, ISBN: 006082333X; this book is already being shown on Amazon for advance orders pre-publication. [This short book is in the publisher's "Eminent Lives" series.]

External links

• King's College London team of: Franklin, Gosling, Randall, Stokes, Wilkins, and Wilson
• 'Death' of D.N.A. Helix (Crystaline) joke funeral card.
• [3] First press stories on D.N.A.