Bill Price (physicist) facts for kids
Professor William Charles Price (born April 1, 1909 – died March 10, 1993) was a British scientist who studied physics. He grew up in Swansea, Wales. He spent his career working at famous universities like Cambridge and London. His most important work helped scientists understand the structure of DNA, especially how its building blocks (called base pairs) are held together by something called a hydrogen bond.
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Early Life and School Days
William Charles Price was born on April 1, 1909. He went to the Bishop Gore School in Swansea. A famous poet named Dylan Thomas was also at the school around the same time. Dylan Thomas's father even taught English there!
After school, William Price studied Physics at Swansea University. He earned his first degree in 1930.
He then traveled to the United States and spent three years at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
In 1935, he moved to the University of Cambridge in England. He worked in the university's science lab. He worked with other important scientists there, like John Lennard-Jones. In 1938, he won a special award called the Meldola Medal and Prize for his scientific work.
His Scientific Career
During World War II, William Price worked at the Royal Aircraft Establishment. He used a special technique called ultra-violet absorption spectroscopy. This is a way to study materials by seeing how they absorb different kinds of light.
In 1943, he helped set up a group at a big company called Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) that focused on this light-studying technique.
Working at King's College London
From 1948 to 1976, Professor Price worked at King's College London. This was a very important time in his career.
While he was there, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1959. This is a big honor for scientists in the UK. He also became a professor of physics and even the head of the science department for a few years.
At King's College, he was a leader in using ultra-violet light to study something called Rydberg series. His boss encouraged him to use these light-studying methods on many different substances. At that time, many scientists were very interested in understanding the structure of DNA and proteins.
It was through his work using infra-red absorption spectroscopy that scientists discovered how the hydrogen bonds in DNA's base pairs were lined up. This was a crucial piece of the puzzle for understanding the famous double-helix shape of DNA.
Personal Life
In August 1939, William Price married Nest Davies. Her father had also been a science teacher. They had a son and a daughter.
William Price passed away on March 10, 1993, when he was 83 years old.
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