Raymond Gosling

  Raymond Gosling (born 1926) is a distinguished scientist who worked with both Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin at King's College London in deducing the structure of DNA, under the direction of Sir John Randall.

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Early years

He was born in 1926 and attended school in Wembley. He studied physics at University College London from 1944 to 1947 and became a hospital physicist at the King’s Fund and Middlesex Hospital between 1947 and 1949 before joining King's College London as a research student. ^[1]

Work at King's and DNA

At King’s College London, Gosling worked on X-ray diffraction with Maurice Wilkins, analysing samples of DNA which they prepared by hydrating and drawing out into thin filaments and photographing in a hydrogen atmosphere.

Gosling was then assigned to Rosalind Franklin when she joined King’s College London in 1951. Together they produced the first X-ray diffraction photographs of the "form B" paracrystalline arrays of highly hydrated DNA. She was his academic supervisor. During the next two years, the pair worked closely together to perfect the technique of x-ray diffraction photography of DNA and obtained at the time the sharpest diffraction images of DNA. This work led directly to the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine being awarded to Francis Crick, James D. Watson and Maurice Wilkins. Gosling was the co-author with Franklin of one of the three papers published in "Nature" in April 1953. ^[2]

Gosling briefly remained at King’s College London following the completion of his thesis in 1954 before lecturing in physics at Queen’s College, University of St Andrews, and at the University of the West Indies^[1]

Work at Guy's Hospital

He returned to the UK in 1967 and became Lecturer and Reader at Guy's Hospital Medical School, and Professor and Emeritus Professor in Physics Applied to Medicine from 1984. Here he helped develop the underlying basic medical science and technology for haemodynamic doppler ultrasound vascular assessment in the Non Invasive Angiology Group, and set up the clinical Ultrasonic Angiology Unit.^{[3] [4] [5] [6]}

Gosling has served on numerous committees of the University of London, notably relating to radiological science, and still retains an active professional involvement in medical physics.

See also

• 'Death' of D.N.A. Helix (Crystaline) joke funeral card

References

• Chomet, S. (Ed.), D.N.A. Genesis of a Discovery, 1994, Newman- Hemisphere Press, London; NB a few copies are available from Newman-Hemisphere at 101 Swan Court, London SW3 5RY (phone: 07092 060530).
• Wilkins, Maurice, The Third Man of the Double Helix: The Autobiography of Maurice Wilkins ISBN 0-19-860665-6.
• Ridley, Matt; "Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code (Eminent Lives)" was first published in July 2006 in the USA and will be then in the UK September 2006, by HarperCollins Publishers; 192 pp, ISBN 0-06-082333-X. [This short book is in the publisher's "Eminent Lives" series.]