Alec Stokes

{{about|the British physicist|the U.S. internet personality|Stokes Twins}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Alec Stokes

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1919|6|27|df=y}}

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|2|5|1919|6|27|df=y}}

| birth_name = Alexander Rawson Stokes

| birth_place = Macclesfield, England

| nationality = British

| fields = Physics, biophysics

| workplaces = Royal Holloway College, London
King's College London

| alma_mater = University of Cambridge

| thesis_title = Imperfect Crystals

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| thesis_year = 1944

| doctoral_advisor = Lawrence Bragg

| academic_advisors = John Randall

| known_for = Molecular structure of DNA

| spouse = Margaret Stokes

| children = 2 sons and 1 daughter

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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.{{Cite web|title=A photo that changed the world|url=https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/kings-in-time/a-photo-that-changed-the-world|access-date=2020-11-08|website=www.kcl.ac.uk}} He was most recognised as a co-author of the second{{cite journal|last1=Wilkins|first1=M. H. F.|last2=Stokes|first2=A. R.|last3=Wilson|first3=H. R.|title=Molecular structure of nucleic acids: molecular structure of deoxypentose nucleic acids|journal=Nature|date=1953|volume=171|issue=4356|pages=738–740|doi=10.1038/171738a0|pmid=13054693|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/171738a0.pdf|bibcode = 1953Natur.171..738W |s2cid=4280080}} of the three papers published sequentially in Nature on 25 April 1953{{cite web|url=http://www.nature.com/nature/dna50/archive.html|website=Nature|publisher=Nature Publishing Group|title=Double Helix: 50 years of DNA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150522235410/http://www.nature.com/nature/dna50/archive.html|archive-date=2015-05-22}} describing the correct molecular structure of DNA. The first was authored by Francis Crick and James Watson,{{cite journal|last1=Watson|first1=J. D.|last2=Crick|first2=F. H. C.|title=Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid|journal=Nature|date=1953|volume=171|issue=4356|pages=737–738|doi=10.1038/171737a0|pmid=13054692|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/171737a0.pdf|bibcode = 1953Natur.171..737W |s2cid=4253007}} 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,{{Cite web|title=Papers of M H F Wilkins: notes by Raymond Gosling and Alec Stokes|url=http://wellcomelibrary.org/item/b20046935|access-date=2020-11-08|website=Wellcome Library}}{{Cite news|last=Wright|first=Pearce|date=2003-02-15|title=Obituary: Alexander Stokes|url=http://www.theguardian.com/science/2003/feb/15/obituaries.genetics|access-date=2020-11-08|newspaper=The Guardian}}{{Cite news|date=5 March 2003|title=Alec Stokes|newspaper=The Sunday Times|url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/alec-stokes-tqntxj2pl8d|access-date=2020-11-08}} 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 crystallography of Imperfect Crystals for his PhD in 1943 under the supervision of Lawrence Bragg at the Cavendish Laboratory.{{cite news|title=Alexander Stokes |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1423280/Alexander-Stokes.html|accessdate=5 August 2014|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=28 February 2003}}{{cite web|last1=Robert|first1=Walgate|title=Modest, neglected DNA pioneer dies|work=The Scientist|date=13 March 2003|url=http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/22043/title/Modest--neglected-DNA-pioneer-dies/|accessdate=5 August 2014}}

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{{cite letter|via=U.S. National Library of Medicine|first=Francis|last=Crick|recipient=James D. Watson|date=31 March 1966|subject=Notes concerning Watson's book, "The Double Helix"|page=6|url= https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/spotlight/sc/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-101584582X157-doc|access-date=2019-11-03}} as being the first person to demonstrate that the DNA molecule was probably helical in shape. Maurice Wilkins wrote in his autobiography{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/thirdmandoublehe00wilk_011/page/n174 160]|last=Wilkins|first=Maurice|title=The Third Man of the Double Helix: The Autobiography of Maurice Wilkins|url=https://archive.org/details/thirdmandoublehe00wilk_011|url-access=limited|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2003|isbn=0-19-860665-6}} 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}}.{{cite journal|author=Wilson, Herbert R.|author-link=Herbert Wilson|title=Obituary: Alexander Rawson Stokes|journal=Physics Today|date=January 2004|volume=57|issue=1|pages=67–68|doi=10.1063/1.1650080|bibcode = 2004PhT....57a..67W |doi-access=free}}

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.{{cite news|first=Pearce|last=Wright|date=15 Feb 2003|title=Alexander Stokes|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2003/feb/15/obituaries.genetics}} He died on 5 February 2003, survived by his wife, Margaret, two sons, Gordon Stokes and Ian Stokes and a daughter, Jean Stokes.