GB 0100 K/PP178 - WILKINS, Maurice Hugh Frederick (1916-2004)

Identity area

Reference code

GB 0100 K/PP178

Title

WILKINS, Maurice Hugh Frederick (1916-2004)

Date(s)

  • 1854-2004 (Creation)

Level of description

Extent and medium

170 boxes or 1.70 cubic metres

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

Born Pongaroa, New Zealand, 1916; family moved to Birmingham, UK, 1923; educated, King Edward School, Birmingham, 1929-1935, and St John's College, Cambridge, 1935-1938; joined Cambridge Scientists Anti-War Group and Communist Party; conducted research on luminescence in solids under John Randall, Physics Dept, Birmingham University, 1938-1940; PhD on thermoluminescence in solids, 1940; worked on improvements to radar screens, Ministry of Home Security and Aircraft Production, 1940-1941; worked on the separation of uranium isotopes for British atomic bomb research, codenamed the Tube Alloys Project, 1941-1944; worked at University of California at Berkeley, USA, on the Manhattan Project for the production of the atomic bomb, 1944-1945; Lecturer in Physics, St Andrews University, 1945; Researcher, Medical Research Council Biophysics Unit, Physics Department, King's College London, 1946-1958; Lecturer in Biophysics, King's College London, 1958-1963; awarded Nobel Prize for Medicine, 1962, jointly with James Watson and Francis Crick; Professor of Molecular Biology, King's College London, 1963-1970; President and co-founder, British Society for Social Responsibility in Science (BSSRS), 1969-1991; Professor of Biophysics, King's College London, 1970-1981; devised inter-disciplinary undergraduate course, 'The social impact of the biosciences', 1972; Director, Medical Research Council Cell Biophysics Unit, 1974-1981; Emeritus Professor of Biophysics, KCL, 1981-2004; President, Food and Disarmament International, 1984-2004; died, 2004.

Archival history

GB 0100 K/PP178 1854-2004 Collection (fonds) 170 boxes or 1.70 cubic metres Wilkins , Maurice Hugh Frederick , 1916-2004 , molecular biologist

Born Pongaroa, New Zealand, 1916; family moved to Birmingham, UK, 1923; educated, King Edward School, Birmingham, 1929-1935, and St John's College, Cambridge, 1935-1938; joined Cambridge Scientists Anti-War Group and Communist Party; conducted research on luminescence in solids under John Randall, Physics Dept, Birmingham University, 1938-1940; PhD on thermoluminescence in solids, 1940; worked on improvements to radar screens, Ministry of Home Security and Aircraft Production, 1940-1941; worked on the separation of uranium isotopes for British atomic bomb research, codenamed the Tube Alloys Project, 1941-1944; worked at University of California at Berkeley, USA, on the Manhattan Project for the production of the atomic bomb, 1944-1945; Lecturer in Physics, St Andrews University, 1945; Researcher, Medical Research Council Biophysics Unit, Physics Department, King's College London, 1946-1958; Lecturer in Biophysics, King's College London, 1958-1963; awarded Nobel Prize for Medicine, 1962, jointly with James Watson and Francis Crick; Professor of Molecular Biology, King's College London, 1963-1970; President and co-founder, British Society for Social Responsibility in Science (BSSRS), 1969-1991; Professor of Biophysics, King's College London, 1970-1981; devised inter-disciplinary undergraduate course, 'The social impact of the biosciences', 1972; Director, Medical Research Council Cell Biophysics Unit, 1974-1981; Emeritus Professor of Biophysics, KCL, 1981-2004; President, Food and Disarmament International, 1984-2004; died, 2004.

Professor Wilkins and the Wilkins family.

Papers of Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins, 1854-2004, including: laboratory notebooks, graphs, data sets, notes, x-ray diffraction photographs and published articles relating to his scientific research, 1948-1976, chiefly his work on the structure of DNA, 1947-1966; correspondence, 1948-2004, with and about scientific colleagues, including Struther Arnott, Allen Blaurock, Francis Crick, Boris Ephrussi, Harriet Ephrussi-Taylor, Bruce Fraser, Meyer Friedman, Raymond Gosling, Leonard Hamilton, John Kendrew, Robert Langridge, Don Marvin, Linus Pauling, Max Perutz, John Randall, Alec Stokes, James Watson and Herbert Wilson. Correspondence, notes and articles, 1950-2003, relating to research on the history of the discovery of the structure of DNA, including: copies of Rosalind Franklin's laboratory notebooks and articles, 1951-1953, relating to her DNA research; correspondence, 1967-2003, with writers on DNA history, including Aaron Klug, Robert Olby, Meyer Friedman, Horace Judson and Watson Fuller; unpublished articles and talks on DNA history by Wilkins, 1975-1987. Drafts, notes, correspondence and collected background research relating to Wilkins' autobiography, The third man of the double helix (Oxford University Press, 2003). Papers relating to Wilkins' education and early career, 1928-1942, including: teenage essays and fiction on the role of science, 1928-1934; notes, articles and photographs, 1937-1938, relating to his student activities, including physics experiments, and photographs relating to his incendiary bomb testing for Cambridge Scientists Anti-War Group, 1938. Correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports and notes, 1962-1982, relating to the administration of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Biophysics Unit, King's College London (from 1964, the Department of Biophysics), on topics including funding, staffing, equipment provision and teaching. Correspondence, course handouts, student essays (CLOSED) and background material, 1971-1996, relating to the undergraduate course, 'The social impact of the biosciences', created and run by Wilkins, 1972-1982. Correspondence, newsletters and conference papers relating to Wilkins' involvement in political pressure groups, 1968-2003, notably the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science (of which Wilkins was founding President, 1969-1991), Food and Disarmament International (Wilkins' was founding President, 1984-2004), the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), and the Pugwash Conferences on World Affairs. Audio recordings, 1972-1996, including lectures by Wilkins on: social responsibility in science; his Eddington Memorial Lectures,Cambridge, 1977-1978, on the history and philosophy of science; nuclear disarmament, 1981; his retirement speech, 1982; the history of DNA.

Files are grouped chronologically under thematic headings. There is some overlap between the content of the thematic groups, reflecting Professor Wilkins' working methods.

Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.
Please note: Documents including personal data for named living individuals are closed, to be reviewed on the death of the individual, or 80 years from the date of the document. Access may be granted to researchers in certain circumstances, and upon signature of a special undertaking.

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Director of Archives and Information Management.

English

This summary description and detailed catalogue online.

King's College London College Archives

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.
This catalogue is made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License. This catalogue may be updated from time to time in order to reflect additional material and/or new understandings of the material.
2012 Pacifism Nuclear disarmament Biophysics History of science Ethics of science Molecular biology Wilkins , Maurice Hugh Frederick , b 1916 , molecular biologist King's College London , Department of Biophysics CND x Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Food and Disarmament International Science of science Disarmament Political doctrines Peace

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Professor Wilkins and the Wilkins family.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Papers of Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins, 1854-2004, including: laboratory notebooks, graphs, data sets, notes, x-ray diffraction photographs and published articles relating to his scientific research, 1948-1976, chiefly his work on the structure of DNA, 1947-1966; correspondence, 1948-2004, with and about scientific colleagues, including Struther Arnott, Allen Blaurock, Francis Crick, Boris Ephrussi, Harriet Ephrussi-Taylor, Bruce Fraser, Meyer Friedman, Raymond Gosling, Leonard Hamilton, John Kendrew, Robert Langridge, Don Marvin, Linus Pauling, Max Perutz, John Randall, Alec Stokes, James Watson and Herbert Wilson. Correspondence, notes and articles, 1950-2003, relating to research on the history of the discovery of the structure of DNA, including: copies of Rosalind Franklin's laboratory notebooks and articles, 1951-1953, relating to her DNA research; correspondence, 1967-2003, with writers on DNA history, including Aaron Klug, Robert Olby, Meyer Friedman, Horace Judson and Watson Fuller; unpublished articles and talks on DNA history by Wilkins, 1975-1987. Drafts, notes, correspondence and collected background research relating to Wilkins' autobiography, The third man of the double helix (Oxford University Press, 2003). Papers relating to Wilkins' education and early career, 1928-1942, including: teenage essays and fiction on the role of science, 1928-1934; notes, articles and photographs, 1937-1938, relating to his student activities, including physics experiments, and photographs relating to his incendiary bomb testing for Cambridge Scientists Anti-War Group, 1938. Correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports and notes, 1962-1982, relating to the administration of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Biophysics Unit, King's College London (from 1964, the Department of Biophysics), on topics including funding, staffing, equipment provision and teaching. Correspondence, course handouts, student essays (CLOSED) and background material, 1971-1996, relating to the undergraduate course, 'The social impact of the biosciences', created and run by Wilkins, 1972-1982. Correspondence, newsletters and conference papers relating to Wilkins' involvement in political pressure groups, 1968-2003, notably the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science (of which Wilkins was founding President, 1969-1991), Food and Disarmament International (Wilkins' was founding President, 1984-2004), the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), and the Pugwash Conferences on World Affairs. Audio recordings, 1972-1996, including lectures by Wilkins on: social responsibility in science; his Eddington Memorial Lectures,Cambridge, 1977-1978, on the history and philosophy of science; nuclear disarmament, 1981; his retirement speech, 1982; the history of DNA.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Files are grouped chronologically under thematic headings. There is some overlap between the content of the thematic groups, reflecting Professor Wilkins' working methods.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.
Please note: Documents including personal data for named living individuals are closed, to be reviewed on the death of the individual, or 80 years from the date of the document. Access may be granted to researchers in certain circumstances, and upon signature of a special undertaking.

Conditions governing reproduction

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Director of Archives and Information Management.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

  • Latin

Language and script notes

English

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

This summary description and detailed catalogue online.

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

King's College London College Archives

Rules and/or conventions used

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.
This catalogue is made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License. This catalogue may be updated from time to time in order to reflect additional material and/or new understandings of the material.

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

    Sources

    Accession area