Who supervised Francis Crick's PhD work at Cambridge?

Max Perutz supervised Francis Crick’s PhD work at Cambridge. Crick’s thesis examined the structure of proteins using X-ray crystallography, a technique central to the Cavendish Laboratory’s research after World War II.

Crick joined Perutz’s research group in 1949, working alongside John Kendrew. Perutz’s own research focused on the structure of haemoglobin, while Crick developed expertise in interpreting diffraction patterns from biological molecules. Their Cambridge environment later brought Crick into contact with James Watson, helping set the stage for the 1953 DNA double-helix model.

A common mix-up is Sir Lawrence Bragg, who directed the Cavendish Laboratory and was an influential senior scientist, but was not Crick’s doctoral supervisor. Maurice Wilkins worked at King’s College London and contributed crucial DNA-related data, while John Kendrew was a fellow researcher and later a Nobel laureate with Perutz.