Maurice Wilkins (Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins, 1916-2004) 

Maurice Wilkins was born on December 15, 1916. His father was a doctor and was very interested in research but didn’t have the opportunity to. Wilkins had a degree in physics in 1938 and retained his Ph.D in 1940. He applied his studies and ideas to various war-time problems, but when the war was over he began his research in biophysics. In 1946, his biophysics project moved to king’s College where he became a member of the newly formed Medical Research Council Biophysics Research Unit. He then formed a partnership with Rosalind Franklin. In 1953, together with Franklin, they published their first x-ray diffraction pictures of DNA in Nature, but Wilkins was second author while Franklin became the first author. Further studies established and helped the Watson-Crick proposal for DNA structure. In 1959, Wilkins married and as a result of their marriage one girl and one boy was born later. In 1962, due to Franklin’s death, Wilkins was rewarded the Nobel Prize. 

     "Maurice Wilkins - Biography." Nobelprize.org. Web. 08 Feb. 2012. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1962/wilkins-bio.html>.