SUPPLEMENT IV 



Maurice H.F.Wilkins 

 The molecular configuration of nucleic acids 



Nobel Lecture, December u, ig62 



Nucleic acids arc basically simple. They are at the root of very fundamental 

 biological processes, growth and inheritance. The simplicity of nucleic acid 

 molecular structure and of its relation to function expresses the underlying 

 simplicity of the biological phenomena, clarifies their nature, and has given 

 rise to the first extensive interpretation of living processes in terms of macro- 

 molecular structure. These matters have only become clear by an unprece- 

 dented combination of biological, chemical and physical studies, ranging from 

 genetics to hydrogen-bond stereochemistry. I shall not discuss all this here 

 but concentrate on the field in which I have worked, and show how X-ray 

 diffraction analysis has made its contribution. I shall describe some of the 

 background of my own researches, for I suspect I am not alone in finding 

 such accounts often more interesting than general reviews. 



Early Background 



I took a physics degree at Cambridge in 1938, with some training in X-ray 

 crystallography. This X-ray background was influenced by J. D. Bernal, 

 then at the Cavendish. I began research at Birmingham, under J. T. Randall, 

 studying luminescence and how electrons move in crystals. My contem- 

 poraries at Cambridge had mainly been interested in elementary particles, 

 but the organization of the solid state and the special properties which 

 depended on this organization interested me more. This may have been a 

 forerunner of my interest in biological macromolecules and how their struc- 

 ture related to their highly specific properties which so largely determine 

 the processes of life. 



During the war I took part in making the atomic bomb. When the war 

 was ending, I, like many others, cast around for a new field of research. 

 Partly on account of the bomb, I had lost some interest in physics. I was 

 therefore very interested when I read Schrodinger's book « What is Life? » 

 and was struck by the concept of a highly complex molecular structure 



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