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Rosalind Franklin
A British physicist at King’s College. Lauded, established, and taken seriously by his colleagues in the community, Wilkins brings Rosalind Franklin to King’s College to assist him—not realizing that the woman he cruelly refers to as “Rosy” and “Miss Franklin” is determined to assist no one and to instead focus intensely on her own research. Wilkins is Rosalind’s foil and rival, but in spite of his occasionally thoughtless treatment of her and his occasionally sexist or antisemitic words toward her, there is a part of him that really wants to get through to her, win her trust, and build a sustainable professional working relationship. Wilkins is constantly trying to “begin again” with Rosalind and prove to her that he can be a good friend and colleague—but at a certain point, he realizes that it is too late to begin again, and that his relationship with Rosalind will never be anything other than the contentious, adversarial one it is. Wilkins, frustrated with Rosalind’s aloofness and her resistance to turning over a new leaf with him, turns to the Cambridge team of Watson and Crick for friendship and professional support. Wilkins shares with Watson and Crick important parts of Rosalind’s painstaking research, including the infamous Photograph 51, unaware that the two men are racing against the clock to develop their own model of DNA’s structure—a structure that Photo 51 reveals. In spite of his relentless attempts to connect with and ingratiate himself to others in his community, Wilkins privately admits his belief that science is “the loneliest pursuit in the world.” Beyond his old-guard chauvinism and his desire, seemingly, to maintain the status quos in both science and society, Wilkins does eventually express remorse for the callousness he showed Rosalind, openly regretting that he, too, failed to collaborate or support her as her research partner.
Maurice Wilkins Quotes in Photograph 51
The Photograph 51 quotes below are all either spoken by Maurice Wilkins or refer to Maurice Wilkins. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Photograph 51 Quotes
ROSALIND. (Writing the letter, cold and formal.) I require an X-ray generating tube. And a camera specially made so that the temperature inside it can be carefully controlled. Otherwise, the solution will change during its exposure, and, Dr. Wilkins, you know as well as I do that that just won’t do. Finally, if at all possible, I’d like to know when this order will be placed so that, if need be, I can request a few minor modifications. Yours sincerely, Dr. Rosalind Franklin.
WILKINS. Dear Miss Franklin, you are ever so ... …cordial.
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ROSALIND. Dr. Wilkins, I will not be anyone’s assistant. (Beat.)
WILKINS. What was that?
ROSALIND. I don’t like others to analyze my data, my work. I work best when I work alone. If, for whatever reason, I am forced into a different situation, I should feel that I came here under false pretenses.
WILKINS. I see… […] Then perhaps we could think of our work together as a kind of partnership. Surely that will suit you?
ROSALIND. I don’t suppose it matters whether or not it suits me, does it?
ROSALIND. I’ll have you know that nuclear force is not something of which I approve.
WILKINS. Then I suppose it’s good no one asked you to work on it. […] At any rate, you lot never do seem to approve of it.
ROSALIND. I’m not sure I understand what you’re driving at. […]
WILKINS. Just that ... people ... worked hard to ... come up with these ways to save ... well, the Jews, and then all you hear back from them is how they don’t approve. It feels a little ...
ROSALIND. You’re absolutely right that the Jews should be in a more grateful frame of mind these days.
WILKINS. All right, Rosy.
ROSALIND. It’s absurd, isn’t it? Archaic! […] This business of the senior common room…
GOSLING. I suppose. But ... you can’t worry about it. […] It’s not like biophysicists have such great conversations at meals anyway. They tend just to talk about the work. They never take a break.
ROSALIND. But those are precisely the conversations I need to have. Scientists make discoveries over lunch.
WILKINS. I almost went to see the very same performance. […] Our paths so nearly crossed. (Beat.) Was it any good?
ROSALIND. Oh yes. Very.
WILKINS. The great difference, you know, between The Winter’s Tale and the story on which it’s based—Pandosto—is that in Shakespeare’s version the heroine survives.
ROSALIND. John Gielgud played Leontes. He really was very good. Very lifelike. Very good. When Hermione died, even though it was his fault, I felt for him. I truly did.
WILKINS. And who played Hermione?
ROSALIND. I don’t remember. She didn’t stand out, I suppose.
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WATSON. It’s just incredibly exciting.
WILKINS. What is?
WATSON. To be born at the right time. There’s an element of fate to it, don’t you think? And I don’t believe in fate.
ROSALIND. (Condescendingly.) Flushed with pride, are we?
WILKINS. I beg your pardon?
ROSALIND. X-ray patterns you made?
WILKINS. It was just a manner of speaking. Everyone knows who’s on the team, that there is a team.
ROSALIND. Well, I don’t know which X-ray patterns you were looking at, but in the ones I took, it’s certainly not clear that there is a helix.
WILKINS. It’s like you’re unwilling to see it.
CRICK. She’s really that bad?
WILKINS. Worse.
WATSON. The Jews really can be very ornery.
WILKINS. You’re telling me.
WATSON. Is she quite overweight?
WILKINS. Why do you ask?
CRICK. James is many things but subtle is not one of them. […] You see, he imagines that she’s overweight. The kind of woman who barrels over you with the force of a train. […]
CASPAR. (To the audience.) To Watson and Crick, the shape of something suggested the most detailed analysis of its interior workings. As though, by looking at something you could determine how it came to be ... how it gets through each day.
WILKINS. But what are we celebrating??
GOSLING. It’s amazing, really—
ROSALIND. Have some faith in me. There is something to celebrate. Take a leap of faith.
WILKINS. (Bitterly.) As though you would ever do that. […] I mean, my God, can you even hear yourself? The irony?
ROSALIND. (Slowly.) I take a leap of faith every day, Maurice, just by walking through that door in the morning ... I take a leap of faith that it’ll all be worth it, that it will all ultimately mean something.
WILKINS. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
ROSALIND. No, you wouldn’t.
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WATSON. Do tell us what our little ray of sunshine is keeping busy with these days.
CRICK. (Actually worried.) Wilkins, old boy. Are you sure you’re quite all right?
WATSON. Anything new on her docket? If you don’t mind sharing, that is.
WILKINS. I honestly couldn’t give two damns. I’m happy to tell you all I can remember.
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CASPAR. Watson and Crick got hold of the paper Rosalind had written. It was confidential.
CRICK. It wasn’t confidential. Another scientist at Cambridge gave it to us. […]
WILKINS. Well it wasn’t published, that’s for sure. And it included [….] information that became critical to your work.
WATSON. I’m sure we would have gotten there sooner or later, even without it.
WILKINS. So would we have done, with the benefit of your work. You had ours but we didn’t have yours!
WATSON. There was no “we” where you were concerned. […]
GOSLING. Anyway, it doesn’t matter how they got the paper, only that they got it.
CASPAR. And that Rosalind didn’t know she should be in a hurry.
ROSALIND. I think I’m thinking about how I’ve come to the end of thinking. […]
WILKINS. We could talk it through. It might help. […]
GOSLING. For a moment, everything stopped. Different ways our lives could go hovered in the air around us. […]
ROSALIND. You know, I think I am going to call it a night. I haven’t been home before midnight for a fortnight and really what’s the point of being here and not getting anywhere? […]
GOSLING. And then there was only one way everything would go.
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GOSLING. There’s no science that can explain it. Loneliness. […]
CASPAR. Rosalind? (She clutches her stomach.)
WATSON. It works, Francis. It works. (A very long beat.)
CRICK. It’s ...
WATSON. I can’t believe it.
CRICK. It’s life unfolding, right in front of us. (Rosalind doubles over in her chair, and gasps.)
CASPAR. Rosalind?
WILKINS. It’s the loneliest pursuit in the world. Science. Because there either are answers or there aren’t.
ROSALIND. We lose. In the end, we lose. The work is never finished and in the meantime our bodies wind down, tick slower, sputter out.
WILKINS. Like grandfather clocks.
ROSALIND. If I’d only ...
GOSLING. Been more careful around the beam.
WATSON. Collaborated.
CRICK. Been more open, less wary. Less self-protective.
CASPAR. Or more wary, more self-protective.
WATSON. Been a better scientist.
CASPAR. Been willing to take more risks, make models, go forward without the certainty of proof.
CRICK. Been friendlier.
GOSLING. Or born at another time.
CRICK. Or born a man.
WILKINS. And they do. I love that Hermione wasn’t really dead. That she comes back.
ROSALIND. (Sympathetically.) No, Maurice. She doesn’t. Not really.
WILKINS. Of course she does.
ROSALIND. No.
WILKINS. Then how do you explain the statue coming to life?
ROSALIND. Hope. They all project it. Leontes projects life where there is none, so he can be forgiven.
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Maurice Wilkins Character Timeline in Photograph 51
The timeline below shows where the character Maurice Wilkins appears in Photograph 51. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Photograph 51
...as she photographed leaves in the yard, but at the height of her reminiscence, Maurice Wilkins steps in and begins a reminiscence of his own. As he begins to recall aloud...
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...her arrival detailing the materials she’d need. Rosalind reads the letter aloud—the letter, addressed to Wilkins is “cold and formal.” Wilkins writes back to Rosalind’s letter, addressing her as “Miss Franklin”...
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The action shifts suddenly. Rosalind is at King’s College with Wilkins, who informs her that she won’t be working on proteins, as promised, but instead on...
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...to work as anyone’s assistant—she likes to do her own research and works best alone. Wilkins encourages Rosalind to think of their work together as a “partnership.” Rosalind storms off, furious.
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...single moment” as soon as Rosalind realized she’d been brought to King’s under false pretenses. Wilkins tells him that he’s wrong, but Caspar agrees with Watson—Rosalind, he says, would never have...
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...nature of the lab, claiming that her working conditions in Paris were much more hospitable. Wilkins subtly chides Rosalind for “leav[ing] England when she needed [her people] most.” Rosalind coolly replies...
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...positions during the war, and then, finally, declares that she doesn’t “approve” of nuclear force. Wilkins retorts that Rosalind’s “lot” never does. Rosalind asks what he means, and Wilkins says, somewhat...
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...the afternoon—well past time for lunch. Rosalind agrees it’s time for a break and asks Wilkins where they should go to eat. Wilkins matter-of-factly states that he dines in the senior...
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Rosalind asks Gosling what Wilkins is like, knowing they’ve worked together for a long time. Gosling tells Rosalind that Wilkins...
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Wilkins returns from lunch. Rosalind blithely asks him how his meal was, adding how “glad” she...
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Several days later, Rosalind and Wilkins are back in the lab after the weekend. Wilkins asks Rosalind how her weekend was,...
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As their friendly conversation dies down, Wilkins asks Rosalind what she’s going to work on over the course of the morning. Rosalind...
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Wilkins steps forward, cutting the dark moment short. He begins telling a story about a conference...
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Watson tells Wilkins that he wants to learn crystallography and come to work with him. Watson talks at...
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Rebuffed by Wilkins, Watson approaches another scientist who takes him on and pairs him with Francis Crick, a...
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Back in the lab at King’s, Wilkins returns from his conference and exchanges cool pleasantries with Rosalind—pleasantries that dissolve when he asks...
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Later on, in another part of the lab, Wilkins asks Gosling how he’s supposed to get any work done if all his time is...
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The next day, Wilkins shows up to the lab with a box of chocolates for Rosalind. He hands them...
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Wilkins delivers a lecture in which he cites “his” research with X-ray patterns in the discovery...
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...other” but, due to Rosalind’s visual separation of the two, can now be seen separately. Wilkins is excited by the development, but he and Rosalind are still not speaking. They attempt...
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...simply focusing on determining what she could see. As the days go by, Gosling and Wilkins pressure Rosalind to hurry up and make a model—the other researchers in their field are...
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Wilkins grows frustrated with Rosalind’s stoniness and her unwillingness to collaborate, hypothesize, or make a model....
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...the week before, statements in which directly contradicted the model the men have now made. Wilkins agrees that the men’s model is incorrect, and suggests Watson return to America, “where theft...
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...puts Photograph 51 away in a drawer. Gosling asks if they should show it to Wilkins, but Rosalind doesn’t want to do so. As Wilkins enters the room and asks what’s...
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Rosalind and Wilkins begin arguing. Wilkins says he’s never encountered a woman of “such temerity,” and Rosalind suggests...
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...published—which is flawed in some ways but close to the truth in others—to Rosalind and Wilkins’s lab. Watson shows Rosalind the paper, and she laments that the “rush to publish” is...
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Watson goes down the hall to Wilkins’s office and vents to him about Rosalind being an “old hag.” Wilkins agrees that Rosalind...
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...double helix structure, and that they need to start building a new model right away. Wilkins and Rosalind, he says, have no idea that they are the ones with the answer...
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As Caspar arrives at the lab, Wilkins shows him around and introduces him, at last, to Rosalind—whom Wilkins calls “Miss Franklin.” Caspar,...
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A few days later, Crick invites Wilkins to come to Cambridge for dinner, and Wilkins accepts. When he arrives, he finds that...
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Watson switches the subject to DNA and asks if Wilkins has any new research to report. He says he doesn’t. Watson asks what Rosalind has...
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Crick and Watson encourage Wilkins to make his own model—he says that he can’t as long as “Rosy” is around,...
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...even without the paper, he and Crick would’ve been able to make their model anyway. Wilkins steps forward and says he and Rosalind would have been able to make their own,...
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That February, Watson and Crick invite their colleagues from all over England to Cambridge. Rosalind, Wilkins, Caspar, and Gosling all pay them a visit. Rosalind is in a good mood—she flirts...
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Hours later, Rosalind is alone in the lab staring at Photograph 51. Wilkins walks in and tells her she should go home and get some sleep. When Rosalind...
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Wilkins travels to Cambridge and examines Watson and Crick’s model. As he does, Rosalind steps forward...
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Rosalind returns to her office from the hospital to find Wilkins sitting in the dark. He asks what she’s doing out of the hospital, and she...
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Rosalind asks if Crick and Watson’s model is “beautiful.” Wilkins tells her it is. She tells Wilkins that the two of them were close, at...
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Rosalind then asks Wilkins why she didn’t get those days. She wonders aloud if she didn’t deserve them. She...
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...went to Leeds—she died that April at 37 years of age. As he continues speaking, Wilkins begs him to stop. Gosling says he can’t not report “what happened.” Wilkins begs to...
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Wilkins approaches Rosalind and says he has something to tell her. He confesses that on the...
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Rosalind and Wilkins have a similar conversation to the one they had earlier in the play, quoting The...
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There is a point in life, Rosalind says sadly, where one simply can’t begin again. Wilkins admits he has “spent [his] whole life in regret.” Rosalind, smiling sadly, says that perhaps...
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