| Alec Stokes | |
| Birth Date: | 27 June 1919 |
| 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 |
| Thesis1 Url: | and |
| Thesis2 Url: | )--> |
| 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 |
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.[1] He was most recognised as a co-author of the second[2] of the three papers published sequentially in Nature on 25 April 1953[3] describing the correct molecular structure of DNA. The first was authored by Francis Crick and James Watson,[4] 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".
Known by the name Alec,[5] [6] [7] 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.[8] [9]
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[8] [10] as being the first person to demonstrate that the DNA molecule was probably helical in shape. Maurice Wilkins wrote in his autobiography[11] 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) .[12]
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.[13] He died on 5 February 2003, survived by his wife, Margaret, two sons, Gordon Stokes and Ian Stokes and a daughter, Jean Stokes.