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 Rosalind Franklin: DNA Pioneer

By Shlomo Maital

Photo 51: The Structure of DNA

          Rosalind Franklin.  

          Rosalind …who?  

          This, below, is from King’s College, London:

         “The discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953 was enabled by Dr Rosalind Franklin’s X-ray diffraction work at King’s.  Dr Franklin joined the laboratory of John Randall at King’s in 1950 with a PhD from Cambridge and X-ray diffraction experience in Paris.

      “At King’s, by controlling the water content of the DNA specimens, she showed that the molecule could exist in two forms (A and B). In May 1952 she and PhD student Ray Gosling captured the image of the B form that supported the modelling of DNA – ‘photo 51’.

       “Photo 51 is one of the world’s most important photographs, demonstrating the double-helix structure of deoxyribonucleic acid: the molecule containing the genetic instructions for the development of all living organisms. Franklin’s image confirmed James Watson and Francis Crick of the University of Cambridge’s hypothesis that DNA had a double helical structure, enabling them to build the first correct model of the DNA molecule in 1953.”

    “A paper by Franklin and Gosling, together with one by Dr Maurice Wilkins and colleagues from King’s, accompanied the announcement of Watson and Crick’s momentous discovery in Nature in May 1953.”

      Franklin’s paper was largely ignored.  Watson and Crick’s discovery was a sensation.

      But it was Franklin’s amazing photograph that was crucial.  Photo 51 showed a clear X-ray diffraction pattern of DNA, and revealed structural features of DNA vital for understanding DNA´s three-dimensional structure.  She managed to produce the sharp photograph shown above by figuring out how to control the amount of water in the DNA sample – water blurred the photograph. 

       As a woman, as a very young woman, and as a scientist very early in her career, she was marginalized by the powerful male scientists who dominated the field.  True, the Nobel citation for Crick and Watson mentioned her contribution – but she died of ovarian  cancer four years before Watson/Crick’s Nobel.   And it is Watson and Crick who have reaped the glory. 

        In the history of the Nobel Prize, 894 men have won it and 64 women.  Even though women are half the population. Women are 50% of the population, and won 6% of the Nobels. 

           Science is a demanding field of research, largely dominated by men.  Fewer women choose this field, and those that do are often marginalized by the men who run and rule the labs.  Like Rosalind Franklin.

           Things are changing… but not fast enough.