Wilkins, Maurice

[person]

British physicist born in Pongaroa, New Zealand (1916-2004). Wilkins early work on phosphorescence led to his participation in the Manhattan Project and the development of better radar systems during World War II. After the war, Wilkins shifted his attention to biophysics and the X-ray diffraction patterns caused by DNA and other biological materials. Wilkins shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Medicine with James Watson and Francis Crick for their work on the structure of DNA.