10 questions · Society & Everyday
Rosalind Franklin, born in 1920 into a well-off London family, knows even as a teenager that she wants to be a scientist. She studies chemistry at Cambridge and becomes an expert in a demanding technique: X-ray crystallography, which uses X-rays to reveal the arrangement of atoms in crystals. In Paris she refines this art on the structure of coal, before moving to King's College London in 1951 to study the structure of DNA: the molecule that carries the genetic code. With extraordinary precision she captures an X-ray image of startling clarity: the famous "Photo 51". Its cross-shaped diffraction pattern is the tell-tale fingerprint of a helical structure. But the atmosphere at King's College is poisonous: she and her colleague Maurice Wilkins share a deep mutual distrust, and as a woman she is even barred from the faculty dining room. Without her knowledge, Wilkins shows Photo 51 to the Cambridge researchers James Watson and Francis Crick. Together with Franklin's unpublished measurements, the image gives them the missing piece: in 1953 they present the model of the DNA double helix and Franklin's crucial contribution appears only as a passing footnote. In 1962 Watson, Crick and Wilkins receive the Nobel Prize for it. Rosalind Franklin does not live to see this recognition: she dies in 1958 at just 37 of ovarian cancer: possibly caused in part by her years of work with X-ray radiation. Since the Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously, she was officially left out. Only later generations set the record straight; today she is regarded as one of the wrongly overlooked key figures of modern biology, and research institutes and a Mars rover bear her name.
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DNA double helix
Her X-ray images showed that DNA must have a helical structure.
💡 Did you know? Franklin's X-ray images provided the decisive evidence for the double-helix structure of DNA.
Photo 51
„Photo 51“ is a famous X-ray image of DNA by Franklin that clearly revealed the helical structure.
💡 Did you know? The cross-shaped diffraction pattern in the image is the classic fingerprint of a helical structure.
X-ray crystallography
It allows the arrangement of atoms to be deduced from the diffraction pattern of X-rays.
💡 Did you know? Franklin was a master of X-ray crystallography: a difficult technique for making the arrangement of atoms visible.
Watson and Crick
They saw Franklin's Photo 51 (without her knowledge) which gave them the decisive clue.
💡 Did you know? Watson and Crick used Franklin's data (partly without her knowledge) for their famous 1953 DNA model.
Maurice Wilkins
Franklin and Wilkins both worked at King's College, but were linked by deep mutual distrust.
💡 Did you know? Her colleague Maurice Wilkins showed Watson the crucial „Photo 51“ without Franklin's consent.
posthumous award not possible (died 1958)
The prize was shared by Watson, Crick and Wilkins.
💡 Did you know? Whether she would have been included had she lived is still debated today.
ovarian cancer (aged 37)
Her years of work with X-ray radiation are considered a possible contributing cause.
💡 Did you know? Franklin died in 1958 at just 37 of cancer: too early to receive the Nobel Prize that Watson, Crick and Wilkins won in 1962.
virus structures
Her virus research was highly regarded internationally; here her contribution was recognised in her lifetime.
💡 Did you know? After DNA, Franklin turned to the structure of viruses and laid foundations for modern virology.
institutes and a Mars rover named after her
Today institutes, universities and even a European Mars rover bear Rosalind Franklin's name.
💡 Did you know? The ESA's ExoMars rover is called "Rosalind Franklin".
Foto: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin (1920 to 1958) was a British chemist whose X-ray images made the discovery of the DNA double helix possible.
💡 Did you know? Long overshadowed, Franklin is now seen as one of the scientists denied their deserved recognition in their lifetime.
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