Contents

Alec Stokes: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:24, 7 January 2022

Alexander Rawson Stokes (27 June 1919 – 6 February 2003) was a British physicist at Royal Holloway College, London and later at King's College London.^[1][2] He was most recognised as a co-author of the second^[3] of the three papers published sequentially in Nature on 25 April 1953^[4] describing the correct molecular structure of DNA. The first was authored by Francis Crick and James Watson,^[5] and the third by Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling.

In 1993, on the 40th anniversary of the publication of the molecular structure of DNA, a plaque was erected in the Quad (courtyard) of the Strand campus of King's College London, commemorating the contributions of Franklin, Gosling, Stokes, Wilson, and Wilkins to "DNA X-ray diffraction studies".

Early life and education

Known by the name Alec,^[6][7][8] Stokes was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire. He studied at Cheadle Hulme School in Manchester. He received a first-class degree in the natural science tripos in 1940 at Trinity College, Cambridge and then researched X-ray crystallographyofImperfect Crystals for his PhD in 1943 under the supervision of Lawrence Bragg at the Cavendish Laboratory.^[9][10]

Scientific work

Stokes lectured in physics at Royal Holloway College, London before joining John Randall's Biophysics Research Unit at King's College London in 1947. He has been credited^[9][11] as being the first person to demonstrate that the DNA molecule was probably helical in shape. Maurice Wilkins wrote in his autobiography^[12] that he asked Stokes to predict what a helical structure would look like as an x-ray diffraction photograph, and that he was able to determine this by the next day through mathematical calculations made during a short train journey. Stokes continued to work on optical diffraction in large biological molecules. His publications include the books The Theory of the Optical Properties of Inhomogeneous Materials. London: E. and F.N. Spon Ltd, (1963) and The Principles of Atomic and Nuclear Physics C.J. Smith and A.R. Stokes, London, Edward Arnold, (1972) ISBN 0-7131-2313-3.^[1]

Later life

Stokes retired from King's College London as a senior lecturer in 1982. He was a choral singer, played the piano and was an elder in his local free church, in Welwyn Garden City.^[13] He died on 5 February 200,^[1] survived by his wife, Margaret, two sons, Gordon Stokes and Ian Stokes, and a daughter, Jean Stokes.^[9]

References

Further reading

• Chomet, Seweryn (1995). D.N.A. : Genesis of a Discovery. London, England: Newman-Hemisphere. ISBN 978-1-567001-38-9.
• Wilkins, Maurice (2003). The Third Man of the Double Helix : Memoirs of a Life in Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-860665-9.
• Ridley, Matt (2006). Francis Crick : Discoverer of the Genetic Code (1st ed.). New York: Atlas Books. ISBN 978-0-06-082333-7.
• Tait, S.A.S.; Tait, J.F. (2004). A Quartet of Unlikely Discoveries : the Double Helix, the Pill, a Pinch of Salt, then Saturation. London: Athena Press. ISBN 978-1-84401-343-2.

External links

• King's College London link