Rosalind Elsie Franklin

Rosalind Elsie Franklin was a British chemist and x-ray crystallographer who played a crucial role in the discovery of the molecular structure of DNA and RNA. She was born on 25 July 1920 in Notting Hill, London, to a wealthy and influential Jewish family. She attended St Paul's Girls' School, where she excelled in science and mathematics. She then studied natural sciences at Newnham College, Cambridge, graduating in 1941. She pursued a PhD in physical chemistry under Ronald Norrish at Cambridge, but was dissatisfied with his lack of guidance and interest. She then joined the British Coal Utilisation Research Association (BCURA) in 1942, where she studied the porosity and structure of coal and carbon using x-ray crystallography. Her research on coal helped her earn a PhD from Cambridge in 1945. She also published several papers on the subject and contributed to the development of better gas masks during World War II. In 1947, she moved to Paris as a postdoctoral researcher under Jacques Mering at the Laboratoire Central des Services Chimiques de l'État. There she learned how to use x-ray diffraction to study the structure of large molecules. She became an expert in this technique and applied it to various biological materials, such as DNA, RNA, and viruses. In 1951, she returned to England and joined King's College London as a research associate. She was assigned to work on DNA with Maurice Wilkins, who had already started some preliminary experiments on the subject. However, Franklin and Wilkins had a strained relationship due to their different personalities and expectations. Franklin insisted on working independently and did not share her data or findings with Wilkins or his colleagues. She also did not appreciate Wilkins' interference or criticism of her work. Franklin made significant progress in studying DNA using x-ray diffraction. She improved the quality of the images by using finer samples of DNA fibers and adjusting the humidity levels. She also calculated the dimensions of the DNA molecule and deduced that it had a helical structure with two strands. She obtained a clear image of DNA, known as Photo 51, which showed the characteristic cross pattern of a helix. However, she did not publish her results immediately or realize their full implications. Meanwhile, Wilkins showed Photo 51 to James Watson and Francis Crick, two molecular biologists at Cambridge who were also working on DNA. Watson and Crick used Photo 51 and other data from Franklin's unpublished reports to build their famous model of the double helix structure of DNA in 1953. They published their findings in Nature along with two papers by Franklin and Wilkins that confirmed their model. However, Franklin was not aware of Watson and Crick's use of her data until after their paper was published. She felt betrayed by Wilkins and angry at Watson and Crick for not acknowledging her contribution. She also thought that their model was too simplistic and did not account for all the details of DNA structure. In 1953, Franklin left King's College London and joined Birkbeck College as a lecturer in biophysics. There she continued her research on x-ray diffraction, focusing on the structure of RNA and viruses. She made important discoveries on the structure of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and polio virus, which helped establish the field of structural virology. She also collaborated with other scientists and supervised several students. She published many papers and received international recognition for her work. She was invited to give lectures and attend conferences around the world. She also planned to write a book on the structure of viruses. However, her career was cut short by her illness. In 1956, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, which was probably caused by her exposure to x-rays. She underwent several surgeries and treatments, but her condition worsened. She continued to work until the last few months of her life, despite the pain and fatigue. She died on 16 April 1958 at the age of 37. She was buried in the Willesden United Synagogue Cemetery in London. Franklin's role in the discovery of DNA structure was largely overlooked during her lifetime and after her death. She did not receive any credit or recognition from Watson and Crick, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 with Wilkins for their work on DNA. Franklin was not eligible for the prize because it is not awarded posthumously. Her contribution was only acknowledged by Watson in his book The Double Helix in 1968, which portrayed her in a negative and sexist light. Franklin's reputation and legacy were later restored by the efforts of her friends, colleagues, and biographers, who revealed the true extent and value of her work. She is now widely regarded as one of the most influential and pioneering women in science, and as a key figure in the history of molecular biology. ¹²³⁴