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Wilkins was born in Pongaroa, north Wairarapa, New Zealand, but his family moved to England when he was six. He studied physics at St. John's College, Cambridge, then in 1940 received his Ph.D. in physics at Birmingham University. During World War II he worked on the Manhattan Project at the University of California, Berkeley for 2 years before returning to King's College, London. "After the war I wondered what I would do, as I was very disgusted with the dropping of two bombs on civilian centres in Japan," he told Britain's Encounter radio programme in 1999For the album by Prince, see 1999 (album 1999 is a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the UN. Events Kosovo War Former child star Gary Coleman files for bankruptcy Y2K prep.

At King's College he pursued, among other things X-ray diffraction work. It was his work, along with that of his colleague Rosalind FranklinRosalind Elsie Franklin ( July 25, 1920 April 16, 1958) was a molecular biologist who assisted in the discovery of the structure of DNA. Rosalind Franklin was born in London, England, and graduated from Cambridge University in 1941. Because of the ongoing that led James D. WatsonJames Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is one of the discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule. Born in Chicago, Illinois, he enrolled at the age of 15, earned a B. in Zoology at the University of Chicago in 1947 and a Ph. in Zoology at Indiana Un and Francis CrickFrancis Harry Compton Crick OM ( June 8, 1916 July 28, 2004) was one of the discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule. Born in Northampton, England, he studied physics at University College London, and became a B. During World War II, he worked on to deduce the structure of DNADeoxyribonucleic acid DNA is a nucleic acid which carries genetic instructions for the biological development of all cellular forms of life and many viruses. DNA is sometimes referred to as the molecule of heredity as it is inherited and used to propagate in 19531953 is a common year starting on Thursday (click on link for the calendar). Events January events January 7 President Harry S. Truman announces the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb. January 13 Marshal Josip Broz Tito chosen President of Yugosl; he went on to prove that the double-helicalThe term Double helix plural helices) describes the structure of DNA as first published by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953. They showed that DNA is made up of two complementary, anti-parallel strands of the bases Guanine, Adenine, Thymine and Cytos structure they proposed was indeed correct.

He married Patricia Ann Chidgey in 1959. They had two children, Sarah and George.

In 1960 he was presented with the American Public Health Association's Albert Lasker Award, and in 1962 he was made a Companion of the British Empire. Also in 1962 he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Watson and Crick. Wilkins' reputation was untarnished although it was he who obtained Rosalind Franklin's x-ray images without permission to help deduce the structure of DNA. Franklin's name was excluded from the authors of the famous paper in the esteemed science journal Nature. Many in the molecular biology community have long felt that since Franklin died early, and Wilkins was much less of a publicity-seeker, that Watson and Crick have in the popular mind overshadowed Wilkins and Franklin to an undeserved degree. For instance, while most textbooks describe the double helix as the "W-C" (for "Watson-Crick") model of DNA, there is a longstanding tradition at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory of referring to it as the "W-C-M-F" model with the M for "Maurice" and the F for "Franklin."

He published his autobiography, "The Third Man of the Double Helix," in 2003. He died a year later. At the time of his death, he was still a member of King's College London staff and remained an ardent campaigner against nuclear weapons.