The Third Man of the Double Helix
E311376
The Third Man of the Double Helix is Maurice Wilkins’s autobiographical account of his role in the discovery of the DNA double-helix structure and the surrounding scientific and personal controversies.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Third Man of the Double Helix canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2941749 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Third Man of the Double Helix Context triple: [Maurice Wilkins, notableWork, The Third Man of the Double Helix]
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A.
The Language of Life
The Language of Life is a popular science book by geneticist Francis Collins that explains how advances in genomics are transforming medicine and personal health.
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B.
The Double Helix (scientific contribution, not the book author)
The Double Helix is the iconic structural model of DNA, revealing its two-stranded, twisted-ladder configuration that underpins modern molecular biology and genetics.
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C.
Molecular Biology of the Gene
Molecular Biology of the Gene is a landmark molecular biology textbook, co-authored by James Watson, that helped define and systematize modern understanding of DNA structure, gene function, and genetic regulation.
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D.
The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene is a landmark 1976 book by Richard Dawkins that popularized a gene-centered view of evolution and introduced concepts like memes to a broad audience.
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E.
How to Win the Nobel Prize: An Unexpected Life in Science
"How to Win the Nobel Prize: An Unexpected Life in Science" is a memoir by Nobel Prize–winning scientist J. Michael Bishop that recounts his unconventional journey in biomedical research and offers insights into the nature of scientific discovery.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Third Man of the Double Helix Target entity description: The Third Man of the Double Helix is Maurice Wilkins’s autobiographical account of his role in the discovery of the DNA double-helix structure and the surrounding scientific and personal controversies.
-
A.
The Language of Life
The Language of Life is a popular science book by geneticist Francis Collins that explains how advances in genomics are transforming medicine and personal health.
-
B.
The Double Helix (scientific contribution, not the book author)
The Double Helix is the iconic structural model of DNA, revealing its two-stranded, twisted-ladder configuration that underpins modern molecular biology and genetics.
-
C.
Molecular Biology of the Gene
Molecular Biology of the Gene is a landmark molecular biology textbook, co-authored by James Watson, that helped define and systematize modern understanding of DNA structure, gene function, and genetic regulation.
-
D.
The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene is a landmark 1976 book by Richard Dawkins that popularized a gene-centered view of evolution and introduced concepts like memes to a broad audience.
-
E.
How to Win the Nobel Prize: An Unexpected Life in Science
"How to Win the Nobel Prize: An Unexpected Life in Science" is a memoir by Nobel Prize–winning scientist J. Michael Bishop that recounts his unconventional journey in biomedical research and offers insights into the nature of scientific discovery.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (43)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
autobiography
ⓘ
non-fiction book ⓘ |
| about |
Nobel Prize–winning DNA work
ⓘ
structure of deoxyribonucleic acid ⓘ |
| addresses | public understanding of the DNA discovery story ⓘ |
| author | Maurice Wilkins ⓘ |
| chronology | events leading up to 1953 DNA model ⓘ |
| clarifies |
Maurice Wilkins’s relationship with Rosalind Franklin
ⓘ
Maurice Wilkins’s relationship with Watson and Crick ⓘ |
| describes |
Maurice Wilkins’s role in the discovery of DNA structure
ⓘ
collaboration and rivalry in DNA research ⓘ ethical issues in scientific credit and priority ⓘ scientific culture in mid-20th-century Britain ⓘ use of Rosalind Franklin’s X-ray diffraction data ⓘ |
| genre |
memoir
ⓘ
scientific autobiography ⓘ |
| hasPerspective | first-person account ⓘ |
| intendedAudience |
general readers interested in science history
ⓘ
historians of science ⓘ students of molecular biology ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainSubject | Maurice Wilkins ⓘ |
| narrativeFocus | personal and professional life of Maurice Wilkins ⓘ |
| portrays |
gender dynamics in mid-20th-century science
ⓘ
institutional politics in research laboratories ⓘ scientific collaboration ⓘ scientific competition ⓘ |
| reflectsOn |
ethics of data sharing in science
ⓘ
memory and reliability of scientific recollection ⓘ |
| relatedWork |
Rosalind Franklin and DNA
ⓘ
The Double Helix ⓘ |
| setting | post-war British scientific institutions ⓘ |
| topic |
Cavendish Laboratory
ⓘ
Francis Crick ⓘ James Watson ⓘ
surface form:
James D. Watson
King’s College London ⓘ Rosalind Franklin ⓘ X-ray crystallography of DNA ⓘ discovery of the DNA double helix ⓘ history of molecular biology ⓘ scientific controversies ⓘ |
| workContext | accounts of the discovery of DNA structure ⓘ |
| workOf |
Maurice Wilkins
ⓘ
surface form:
Nobel laureate Maurice Wilkins
|
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Third Man of the Double Helix Description of subject: The Third Man of the Double Helix is Maurice Wilkins’s autobiographical account of his role in the discovery of the DNA double-helix structure and the surrounding scientific and personal controversies.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.