Rosalind Franklin was a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose work was pivotal to understanding the structure of DNA, though she did not share in the Nobel Prize awarded for its discovery. She also made important contributions to molecular biology through her studies of RNA, viruses, coal, and graphite. Key points
- Life and career: Born July 25, 1920 in London; educated at Cambridge in natural sciences; earned a PhD in physical chemistry in 1945. She conducted influential X-ray diffraction work in Paris and at King's College London in the early 1950s. She later moved to Birkbeck College, focusing on viruses, until her death in 1958.
- DNA work: Franklin’s meticulous X-ray diffraction images, especially the famous Photograph 51, provided critical evidence about DNA’s helical structure and helped establish the double-helix model described by Watson and Crick in 1953. This work laid foundational insight for the correct model, though Franklin herself did not receive the Nobel Prize (awarded in 1962 to Watson, Crick, and Wilkins).
- Legacy and recognition: Franklin’s contributions have been increasingly acknowledged in retrospective accounts, biographies, and academic histories. She is widely celebrated as a pioneering woman in science and a foundational figure in molecular biology and structural biology.
- Additional research areas: Beyond DNA, Franklin researched the structure of coal and viruses, applying X-ray crystallography to derive structural insights in those fields. Her broader scientific impact extends to crystallography methods and careful experimental design.
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