Herbert Wilson
| Herbert R. Wilson, | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
20 March 1929 Pwllheli, Wales |
| Died | 22 May 2008 (aged 79) Stirling, Scotland |
| Nationality | United Kingdom |
| Fields | Physics and Biophysics |
| Institutions | King's College London, Queen's College at the University of Dundee, University of St. Andrews, University of Stirling |
| Alma mater | Bangor University |
| Notable awards | Fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh |
Herbert Rees Wilson FRSE (20 March 1929 – 22 May 2008) was a physicist, who was one of the team who worked on the structure of DNA at King's College London, under the direction of Sir John Randall.
He was born the son of a sea captain at Nefyn on the Llŷn Peninsula and educated at Nefyn school and Pwllheli Grammar School. He entered Bangor University, where he gained a first class honours degree in Physics in 1949 and a Ph.D in 1952 under the supervision of Professor Edwin Owen.
Having received a University of Wales fellowship, Wilson joined Maurice Wilkins at King's College London in September 1952. The work involved X-ray diffraction studies of DNA, nucleoproteins and cell nuclei. Prior to the double helix model, their studies showed that DNAs from different sources (including biologically active transforming principle) had essentially the same structure, and confirmed that the phosphate groups were on the outside of the molecule.
Three papers were published in Nature, April 1953, to announce a structure for DNA. Maurice Wilkins, Alex Stokes and Wilson published their paper in the same issue as the paper from Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling, and the paper by Francis Crick and James Watson. The 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was subsequently jointly awarded to Francis Crick, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins.
...
Wikipedia