Maurice Wilkins Quotes
It is essential for genetic material to be able to make exact copies of itself; otherwise growth would produce disorder, life could not originate, and favourable forms would not be perpetuated by natural selection.
Wilkins, Maurice. "The Molecular Configuration of Nucleic Acids." Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1942-1962, Elsevier Publishing Company, 1964, p. 754.
As early as this was in scientific history, he essentially described the process whereby new species are formed by the mutation from the old series.
This is a very important quotation in the history of science. Note that he has the concept of evolution and mutation before Darwin published his his Origin of Species. Darwin had probably come to these conclusions at the time that Lawrence gave this lecture. And of course Darwin had a much broader concept and much data to back it up. But this was one of the great insights in science.
While Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was rejected as heresy by many Christians, there were others who warmly embraced it, and frequently lectured on the subject. Drummond was one of the Christian theologians who saw evolution as the real Genesis. See {611095}.
Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins CBE FRS was a New Zealand-born British biophysicist and Nobel laureate whose research spanned multiple areas of physics and biophysics, contributing to the scientific understanding of phosphorescence, isotope separation, optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction, and to the development of radar. He is best known for his work at King's College London on the structure of DNA.
