PHYSIOLOGY/MEDICINE: Maurice Wilkins 1962. Pongaroa. New Zealand.
S 40° 32.575 E 176° 11.460
60G E 431493 N 5511666
Pongaroa's claim to fame is as the birthplace of New Zealand scientist Maurice Wilkins, Nobel Laureate in 1962. A stone memorial stands proudly in this small North Island country town.
Waymark Code: WMH47Z
Location: North Island, New Zealand
Date Posted: 05/19/2013
Views: 8
Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins CBE FRS (15 December 1916 – 5 October 2004) was born in Pongaroa, north Wairarapa where his father was a medical doctor. The Wilkins moved to Birmingham, England when Maurice was 6. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and studied physics at St. John's College, Cambridge, taking his degree in 1938.
During World War II Wilkins developed improved radar screens at Birmingham, then worked on isotope separation at the Manhattan Project at the University of California, Berkeley during the years 1944–45.
After the war, Wilkins moved to King's College where he began spectroscopic studies on nucleic acids which eventually led to the use of X-ray crystallography to define the Watson-Crick model of DNA. For this work, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962.
He married Patricia Ann Chidgey in 1959 and they had a daughter Sarah and a son George. Sadly Maurice Wilkins died October 5th 2004.
Nobel Prize: In 1962 he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Francis Crick and James Watson for the discovery of the structure of DNA.
The stone DNA memorial is situated on Route 52 at the crossroads in Pongaroa.
Field of Accomplishment: Physiology/Medicine
Year of Award: 1962
Primary Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]
Secondary Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]
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