Alexander Rawson Stokes (27 June 1919 – 6 February 2003) was a British physicist atRoyal Holloway College, London and later atKing's College London.^[1][2] He was most recognised as a co-author of the second^[3] of the three papers published sequentially inNature on 25 April 1953^[4] describing the correct molecularstructure of DNA. The first was authored byFrancis Crick andJames Watson,^[5] and the third byRosalind Franklin andRaymond 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 ofKing's College London, commemorating the contributions of Franklin, Gosling, Stokes, Wilson, and Wilkins to "DNA X-ray diffraction studies".

Known by the name Alec,^[6][7][8] Stokes was born inMacclesfield, Cheshire. He studied atCheadle Hulme School in Manchester. He received a first-class degree in the natural science tripos in 1940 atTrinity College, Cambridge and then researchedX-ray crystallography ofImperfect Crystals for his PhD in 1943 under the supervision ofLawrence Bragg at theCavendish Laboratory.^[9][10]

Stokes lectured in physics atRoyal Holloway College, London before joiningJohn Randall's Biophysics Research Unit atKing's College London in 1947. He has been credited^[9][11] as being the first person to demonstrate that the DNA molecule was probably helical in shape. Maurice Wilkins wrote in his autobiography^[12] 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 booksThe Theory of the Optical Properties of Inhomogeneous Materials. London: E. and F.N. Spon Ltd, (1963) andThe Principles of Atomic and Nuclear Physics C.J. Smith and A.R. Stokes, London, Edward Arnold, (1972)ISBN 0-7131-2313-3.^[1]

Stokes retired fromKing's College London as a senior lecturer in 1982. He was a choral singer, played the piano and was an elder in his localfree church, in Welwyn Garden City.^[13] He died on 5 February 2003,^[1] survived by his wife, Margaret, two sons, Gordon Stokes and Ian Stokes and a daughter, Jean Stokes.^[9]

• Chomet, Seweryn (1995).D.N.A. : Genesis of a Discovery. London, England: Newman-Hemisphere.ISBN 978-1-567001-38-9.
• Wilkins, Maurice (2003).The Third Man of the Double Helix : Memoirs of a Life in Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-860665-9.
• Ridley, Matt (2006).Francis Crick : Discoverer of the Genetic Code (1st ed.). New York: Atlas Books.ISBN 978-0-06-082333-7.
• Tait, S.A.S.; Tait, J.F. (2004).A Quartet of Unlikely Discoveries : the Double Helix, the Pill, a Pinch of Salt, then Saturation. London: Athena Press.ISBN 978-1-84401-343-2.

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• 1919 births
• 2003 deaths
• British physicists
• British Christians
• Academics of Royal Holloway, University of London
• Academics of King's College London
• Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
• Academics of the University of Cambridge
• History of genetics
• People from Macclesfield
• People educated at Cheadle Hulme School

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