Item K/PP178/3/37 - Letters from and papers relating to Alec Stokes, chiefly 1975-2004, including CLOSED material

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Reference code

K/PP178/3/37

Title

Letters from and papers relating to Alec Stokes, chiefly 1975-2004, including CLOSED material

Date(s)

  • 1975 - 2004 (Creation)
  • [1951] (Creation)

Level of description

Item

Extent

1 file

Scope and content

Letters from Alexander Rawson (‘Alec’) Stokes (1919-2003), to Wilkins, including comment on Stokes’ work in DNA research at King’s College London, 1949-1950, enclosing a photocopy of Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling’s joke death notice for the DNA helix, 1952, and a draft outline for a talk by Stokes, ‘why did we think DNA was helical?’ for the 40th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA, 1993. Also a graph [1951] of the Bessel function calculation of diffraction from a helix, by Stokes (nicknamed by him ‘Waves at Bessel on Sea’, according to The Third Man of the Double Helix). Letter from Margaret Stokes (widow), 2003, congratulating Wilkins on the publication of his autobiography. Obituary for Stokes by Walter Gratzer, KCL School of Biomedical Sciences, published in The Times, 2003, with covering notes from Gratzer to Wilkins. Obituary for Stokes, Jan 2004, by Herbert Rees Wilson, published in Physics Today, with covering letter from Wilson to Wilkins. Also brief letters from Wilkins to Margaret Stokes and Ian Stokes (son). File includes personal data, CLOSED for review 2084

General Information

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Script of material

Existence and location of originals

A significant portion of the collection items are available online in the Maurice Wilkins and Medical Research Council Biophysics Unit archive hosted by the Wellcome Library.

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