Who Was Rosalind Franklin?

By Maya Adam

Rosalind Franklin was born on July 25, 1920. She was the second oldest of five, born to a Jewish family in London, England. Her family was well off and influential; her father was a banker and teacher, while her mother was involved in charity work. From a young age, Rosalind was described as displaying “exceptional intelligence” by many. She was determined to excel in the sciences and to study them in college (“Rosalind Franklin Biography”). In 1938, she began studying at a women's college at Cambridge University known as Newnham College. She majored in physical chemistry and was determined to pursue higher education despite World War II and family pressures to seek refuge. Rosalind Franklin earned a bachelor's degree in 1941 and was granted a research scholarship, spending a year in the Cambridge laboratory (“History of Rosalind Franklin”).

In her first position, she began working with the British Coal Utilization Research Association. She investigated the physical chemistry of carbon and coal and conducted experiments to better understand the microstructure of war efforts. In 1945, she received her PhD from Cambridge for her thesis (Rogers). With this, she was able to work at the State Chemical Laboratory alongside Jacques Méring. She worked on x-ray crystallography of DNA, did proficient research into new heat-resistant materials, and developed carbon fibers using the structures of graphitizing and non-graphitizing carbons (“Rosalind Franklin: DNA, Facts, and Death”).

In 1951, she began working at the Biophysical Laboratory, and while working with Gosling, she researched the chemical structure of DNA. She took clear X-ray diffractions of the structure of DNA and was also able to configure the double helix structure of DNA using the famously known photo-51 (Maddox). Without her knowledge, scientists Wilkins, Crick, and Watson used her photographs as well as the data she had collected. They received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the structure of DNA. Sadly, Rosalind Franklin died at the young age of 37 due to ovarian cancer, meaning she was not given the honor of her discovery (Stasiak).

In 1968, Rosalind Franklin's discoveries may have never been acknowledged if it weren't for Watson's memoir, The Double Helix. In it, he negatively describes Rosalind as arrogant and bad-tempered and refers to her as "Rosy." As a response to this, Rosalind's long-term friend Anne Sayre published a biography crediting Franklin's role in the discovery of DNA (“Rosalind Franklin: Profiles in Science”). Many see her story as that of a female scientist who plagiarized and cheated on the Nobel Prize. Regardless, her legacy continues, as her discoveries still contribute heavily to humankind and science today. The discoveries of DNA expanded knowledge in many fields and sparked a revolution in biological technologies. Rosalind Franklin was given an honorary namesake on January 27th, 2004 by the medical institution “Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Sciences''. Franklin's discoveries were the start of many breakthroughs and changes in our current knowledge of science.

Works Cited

Biography.com editors. “Rosalind Franklin - DNA, Facts & Death.” Biography, 15 June 2020, www.biography.com/scientists/rosalind-franklin.

hawk99. “History of Rosalind Franklin for Kids & Families | Bedtime History | Homework Help.” Bedtime History, 28 Mar. 2022, bedtimehistorystories.com/history-of-rosalind-franklin-for-kids-families/.

Maddox, Brenda. “The Double Helix and the “Wronged Heroine.”” Nature, vol. 421, no. 6921, 23 Jan. 2003, pp. 407–408, www.nature.com/articles/nature01399, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01399.

National Library of Medicine. “Biographical Overview.” Rosalind Franklin - Profiles in Science, 12 Mar. 2019, profiles.nlm.nih.gov/spotlight/kr/feature/biographical.

Rogers, Kara. “Rosalind Franklin.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 21 July 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Rosalind-Franklin.

Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. “Dr. Rosalind Franklin.” Rosalind Franklin University, 2014, www.rosalindfranklin.edu/about/facts-figures/dr-rosalind-franklin/.

---. “Dr. Rosalind Franklin.” Rosalind Franklin University, 2014, www.rosalindfranklin.edu/about/facts-figures/dr-rosalind-franklin/.

Stasiak, Andrzej. “Rosalind Franklin.” EMBO Reports, vol. 2, no. 3, Mar. 2001, pp. 181–181, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1083834/, https://doi.org/10.1093/embo-reports/kve037. Accessed 2 Dec. 2019.