Alec Stokes

This article is about the British physicist. For the U.S. internet personality, see Stokes Twins.

Alec Stokes
Born
Alexander Rawson Stokes

(1919-06-27)27 June 1919
Macclesfield, England
Died5 February 2003(2003-02-05) (aged 83)
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge
Known forMolecular structure of DNA
SpouseMargaret Stokes
Children2 sons and 1 daughter
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics, biophysics
InstitutionsRoyal Holloway College, London
King's College London
Thesis Imperfect Crystals  (1944)
Doctoral advisorLawrence Bragg
Other academic advisorsJohn Randall
Double helix

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".

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "A photo that changed the world". www.kcl.ac.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  3. ^ Wilkins, M. H. F.; Stokes, A. R.; Wilson, H. R. (1953). "Molecular structure of nucleic acids: molecular structure of deoxypentose nucleic acids" (PDF). Nature. 171 (4356): 738–740. Bibcode:1953Natur.171..738W. doi:10.1038/171738a0. PMID 13054693. S2CID 4280080.
  4. ^ "Double Helix: 50 years of DNA". Nature. Nature Publishing Group. Archived from the original on 22 May 2015.
  5. ^ Watson, J. D.; Crick, F. H. C. (1953). "Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid" (PDF). Nature. 171 (4356): 737–738. Bibcode:1953Natur.171..737W. doi:10.1038/171737a0. PMID 13054692. S2CID 4253007.