The story of a talented yet tragically short-lived woman, whose significant contributions to humanity have not been adequately recognized: Rosalind Franklin.
Rosalind Franklin – A Brilliant but Short-Lived Scientist
This British female chemist was a pioneer in uncovering the structure of Deoxyribonucleic Acid (commonly known as DNA), which carries the genetic information essential for normal cellular functions.
However, the Nobel Prize awarded in 1962 for the discovery of DNA’s structure went to James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins, not Rosalind Franklin, as she tragically passed away from cancer in 1958.
Regardless of whether the claims that Rosalind Franklin’s work was stolen by her colleagues are right or wrong, it is undeniable that humanity has overlooked many of her achievements.
The Early Years of Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Elsie Franklin was born on July 25, 1920, in London. She was fortunate to attend St. Paul’s Girls’ School, one of the few schools at the time that emphasized careers over “homemaking.” Here, she displayed exceptional talent in science and languages.
Rosalind Franklin – a talented yet tragically short-lived woman.
At 18, she was accepted into Newnham College, part of the University of Cambridge, majoring in Physics and Chemistry. What Rosalind Franklin learned during this time, as well as later on, was heavily influenced by the years of World War II.
She graduated in 1941 and spent a year working in R.G.W. Norrish’s laboratory, a pioneer in photochemistry. Her next position was at the British Coal Utilization Research Association, a nonprofit organization focused on the microstructure of various types of coal.
After obtaining her Ph.D., Franklin joined the laboratory of French engineer Jacques Mering in Paris. There, she learned how to construct models of carbon compounds using X-ray crystallography, becoming an expert in this field. This knowledge would prove vital in her later discovery of DNA’s structure.
“Photo 51” and the Structure of DNA
Rosalind Franklin returned to England in 1950, aiming to collaborate in John Randall’s laboratory—a biophysics lab at King’s College, London.
Initially, Randall intended for her to work on crystallizing and modeling proteins. However, Maurice Wilkins, Randall’s assistant, suggested that Rosalind should study DNA instead.
Wilkins intended to collaborate with Rosalind Franklin, but their relationship quickly deteriorated due to a misunderstanding. As a result, Raymond Gosling became Wilkins’ partner. Through X-ray imaging, they discovered two forms of DNA: the “wet” form with a helical structure and the “dry” form with a completely different structure. Rosalind Franklin was tasked with determining which structure was truly DNA.
At the same time, biologists Francis Crick and James Watson were attempting to build a theoretical model of DNA at the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University. In January 1953, Wilkins showed them a X-ray image of DNA (which is now known as “Photo 51”) along with a summary of Rosalind Franklin’s unpublished research for the Medical Research Council.
She was the one who made significant contributions to discovering the structure of DNA.
In April of that year, Watson and Crick published the structure of DNA in the journal Nature, keeping secret that they had seen Rosalind Franklin’s documents. It was not until later that Crick admitted that Rosalind Franklin had been very close to discovering the structure of DNA—she was just a step away.
In fact, in the same issue of Nature, Franklin and Gosling also published their findings. Yet, ultimately, all the credit went to Watson, Crick, and Wilkins.
An Unjust Life
Afterward, Franklin moved to J.D. Bernal’s laboratory at Birkbeck College. There, she focused on studying the structure of various viruses, particularly the Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) and Poliovirus. The X-ray images of these viruses were published by Franklin and acknowledged by the Royal Society in 1956.
Unfortunately, that same year, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Despite undergoing numerous surgeries and various treatments, she could only extend her life for a short while longer. Rosalind Franklin passed away on April 16, 1958, at the age of 37.
In the memoir “The Double Helix” published by James Watson in 1968, Rosalind Franklin was described as “a woman of little ability and temperamental.” Many people who knew Rosalind (including Crick and Wilkins) strongly disagreed with this characterization.
“If there was a woman who was treated extremely unfairly, it could only be Rosalind Franklin. Even her monumental contributions to the discovery of DNA’s structure went unrecognized,” said Ava Helen Pauling, wife of renowned scientist Linus Pauling, in an interview with Lee Herzenberg in 1977.
In 1975, Anne Sayre published a biography of Rosalind Franklin, aiming to restore her legacy. Later, another biography by Brenda Maddox provided a more nuanced story of Franklin’s life.
Although Rosalind Franklin’s life was incredibly short, her immense contributions to humanity regarding DNA and viruses will endure.
