DNA DNR

James Watson secured his status as the last living discoverer of DNA as Maurice Wilkins’ deoxyribonucleic acid stopped replicating this week at the age of 87. Wilkins’ death comes less than 3 months after Francis Crick’s adenine, guanine, cytosine and uricil entered a permanent downward spiral. Wilkins was the Shemp to Crick and Watson’s Moe and Larry, the Fredo to their Sonny and Michael. In the cutthroat world of post World War II British science, Wilkins’ efforts to unravel DNA were usurped by two competing teams of rogue biologists. Still, he produced the first photo of the helical structure of DNA and for that shared the 1962 Nobel Prize.