Maurice Wilkins, 21 May [1957]

WILKINS, Maurice (1916-2004). Autograph letter signed with initial (“M.” and integrally "Wilkins") to Leonard Hamilton, London, 21 May [1957].

One and a half pages recto and verso, 179 x 200mm. On Biophysics Research Unit stationery, King’s College London. (Last quadrant lightly soiled.)

“As her papers get frequent reference it would look odd not to have her name in somewhere.”

Maurice Wilkins both accuses Rosalind Franklin of “sabotage” and acknowledges her “very useful contributions” in the same sentence. Had Rosalind Franklin not died of ovarian cancer at the age of 37 in 1958, it is possible that could have shared in the Nobel Prize with Maurice Wilkins. Although the Prize cannot be shared by more than three people, James Watson would later suggest that the most fair allocation had Franklin lived would have been himself and Crick sharing the Prize for Medicine and Franklin and Wilkins sharing the Nobel Prize for Chemistry—two Prizes awarded for the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA. The Nobel Prize medals were not awarded to Watson, Crick and Wilkins until 1962.

In part, “In any place which doesn’t give the briefest reference to Xray work I suggest you mention Franklin’s name too, e.g. Wilkins & coworkers & Miss Franklin. Mind you the silly bitch botched the whole business so effectively that I don’t think she should be mentioned too often but she did make very useful contributions (as well as sabotage) & as her papers get frequent reference it would look odd not to have her name in somewhere.” Wilkins continues by recommending a scientist more to his (qualified) personal liking, Peter Dohrn, a zoologist whom he thinks Hamilton and his wife would enjoy meeting: “He is really quite a phenomenon. Very tall, piercing eyes, & unconventional ways & very very kind. Scientifically he is very erratic.”