Professor William Charles Price FRS (1 April 1909 – 10 March 1993) was a British physicist (spectroscopy). Brought up in Swansea, he spent his career at the universities of Cambridge and London. His work was important for identifying the

hydrogen bond In chemistry, a hydrogen bond (H-bond) is a specific type of molecular interaction that exhibits partial covalent character and cannot be described as a purely electrostatic force. It occurs when a hydrogen (H) atom, Covalent bond, covalently b ...

structure of DNA

base pair A base pair (bp) is a fundamental unit of double-stranded nucleic acids consisting of two nucleobases bound to each other by hydrogen bonds. They form the building blocks of the DNA double helix and contribute to the folded structure of both DNA ...

Early life and studies

William Charles Price was born on 1 April 1909. He went to the

Bishop Gore School The Bishop Gore School () is a secondary school in Swansea in Wales, founded on 14 September 1682 by Hugh Gore (1613–1691), Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. It is situated in Sketty, close to Singleton Park and Swansea University. In Decem ...

in Swansea, where his contemporaries included the young poet

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer, whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Un ...

, whose father taught English at the school. He failed to get a state scholarship to Oxford in 1927. He gained a BSc in Physics from

Swansea University Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...

in 1930. Price then spent three years as a Fellow at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, Maryland, USA. He was appointed to the University of Cambridge on a

1851 Research Fellowship The 1851 Research Fellowship is a scheme conducted by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 to annually award a three-year research scholarship to approximately eight "young scientists or engineers of exceptional promise". The fellowship ...

in 1935, at the university's Physical Chemical Laboratory - working with Martin Lowry until 1936, then with

Ronald George Wreyford Norrish Ronald George Wreyford Norrish FRS (9 November 1897 – 7 June 1978) was a British chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967. Education and early life Norrish was born in Cambridge and was educated at The Perse School and Emm ...

. In 1937 he became university demonstrator; and from 1938 a Prize Fellow of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. At Cambridge he worked with

John Lennard-Jones Sir John Edward Lennard-Jones (27 October 1894 – 1 November 1954) was a British mathematician and professor of theoretical physics at the University of Bristol, and then of theoretical science at the University of Cambridge. He was an im ...

and Sydney Chapman. In 1938 he was awarded the

Royal Institute of Chemistry The Royal Institute of Chemistry was a British scientific organisation. Founded in 1877 as the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland (ICGBI), its role was to focus on qualifications and the professional status of chemists, and its ai ...

Meldola Medal and Prize The Meldola Medal and Prize was awarded annually from 1921 to 1979 by the Chemical Society and from 1980 to 2008 by the Royal Society of Chemistry to a British chemist who was under 32 years of age for promising original investigations in chemistr ...

Career

He worked at the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...

in the field of ultra-violet absorption spectroscopy, working with Fred Dainton. He set up a spectroscopic group at

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British Chemical industry, chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. Its headquarters were at Millbank in London. ICI was listed on the London Stock Exchange ...

(ICI) at

Billingham Manufacturing Plant The Billingham Manufacturing Plant is a large chemical works based in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees (borough), Stockton-on-Tees, England. In agricultural terms, it is one of the most important factories in Britain. History Brunner Mond Am ...

in 1943.

King's College London

From 1948 to 1976 he worked at the Wheatstone Physics Laboratory at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. During this period he became a Fellow of the Royal Society (1959), Wheatstone Professor of Physics (1962) and Dean of the Faculty of Science (1966 to 1968). At King's College London he was a pioneer of identifying Rydberg series ultra-violet absorption spectra. He was encouraged by his head of department (the Wheatstone Professor) to look at many substances with spectroscopic techniques, and at the time there was much interest in the structure and function of DNA and proteins. It was through his work with infra-red absorption spectroscopy that the alignment of the hydrogen bonds of the DNA base pairs, relative to the DNA fibre axis, was found.

Personal life

In August 1939 Price married Nest Davies, (whose father had been a science teacher). They had a son and daughter. Price died on 10 March 1993, aged 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Bill 1909 births 1993 deaths Academics of King's College London Alumni of Swansea University Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge People educated at Bishop Gore School Scientists from Swansea Spectroscopists Welsh physicists

Early life and studies

Career

King's College London

Personal life

See also

References