Famous British Biophysicists
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Biophysics is an interdisciplinary branch of science that deals with the methods and approaches of physics to study the biological systems. Biophysicists are scientists involved in the study of biophysics. They engage themselves in studying the chemical and physical properties of living organism. Biophysicists study about the functions of the brain, heart and muscles in living creatures. They observe the effect of drugs on tissues and are involved in studying the evolutionary process of plants and animals, comprehending the nature of genetics and conducting tests to identify diseases like genetic disorders. Thanks to the biophysicists, we have antidotes or drugs to treat various lethal diseases including cancer. Biophysicists work on advanced molecular biology techniques like DNA sequencing, mutagenesis and cloning. Over the years, Britain has successfully produced several overtly talented and outstanding biophysicists whose awe-inspiring works have led to revolutionary breakthrough in the field of biophysics. Remember Nobel Prize laureate Archibald Vivian Hill? He was an English physiologist who is credited for discovering the production of heat in muscles, or even Francis Harry Crompton Crick who co-discovered the structure of the DNA molecule and was awarded the Nobel Prize for the same. Maurice Wilkins is credited for producing the first image of DNA fibers. Follow this segment and find out in details about the life and works of famous British biophysicists.
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Birthdate: July 25, 1920
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Notting Hill, London, England
Died: April 16, 1958
Chemist and X-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin is remembered for her pathbreaking X-ray diffraction studies of DNA, which helped in the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the double helix structure of DNA by Francis Crick, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins later. She also worked on the molecular structures of viruses.
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Francis Crick(Co-discoverer of the Structure of the DNA Molecule, Nobel Prize Winner)
Birthdate: June 8, 1916
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Weston Favell, Northamptonshire, England
Died: July 28, 2004
Nobel Prize-winning British biophysicist Francis Crick is best known for his ground-breaking work to determine the structure of the DNA, along with James Watson, Maurice Wilkins, and Rosalind Franklin. He taught at various institutes, such as the Salk Institute, and was also awarded the Order of Merit.
Birthdate: December 15, 1916
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Pongaroa, Wairarapa, New Zealand
Died: October 5, 2004
Born in New Zealand, to a doctor father from Dublin, Maurice grew up to be a Nobel Prize-winning biophysicist. His X-ray diffraction studies of DNA helped James D. Watson and Francis Crick, his fellow Nobel laureates, ascertain the DNA structure. He was also part of the Manhattan Project.
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Peter Mansfield
(British Physicist Who Won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discoveries Concerning Magnetic Resonance Imaging)
Birthdate: October 9, 1933
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Lambeth, London, England
Died: February 8, 2017
British physicist Peter Mansfield is remembered for his pathbreaking research on magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, along with chemist Paul Lauterbur, which won him and Lauterbur a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. After a childhood marred by World War II, Mansfield’s first job had been related to rocketry.
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Archibald Hill(British Physiologist and Winner of 1922 Nobel Prize in Physiology / Medicine)
Birthdate: September 26, 1886
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Bristol, England
Died: June 3, 1977
Nobel Prize-winning physiologist and biophysicist Archibald Hill is best remembered for his research on muscular heat production. The Cambridge alumnus also taught physiology at Manchester University and UCL, and was a research professor at the Royal Society. He was married to the sister of economist John Maynard Keynes.
Birthdate: March 26, 1911
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Leipzig, Germany
Died: April 20, 2003
Nobel Prize-winning German-born British physician Sir Bernard Katz is remembered for his research on nerves and muscles. The Carnegie fellowship winner had also been part of the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II. He was also knighted for his achievements and made a Fellow of the Royal Society.
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Alan Lloyd Hodgkin(English Physiologist and Biophysicist, Winner of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Medicine)
Birthdate: February 5, 1914
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Banbury, Oxfordshire, England
Died: December 20, 1998
Nobel Prize-winning biophysicist Alan Lloyd Hodgkin is remembered for his research on the chemical processes related to nerve impulses. As a child, he was also interested in ornithology. He also taught at Cambridge and was a research professor at the Royal Society. He was knighted for his achievements.
