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.