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British biophysicist who helped pioneer the discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule
Rosalind Elsie Franklin was born July 25, 1920 in Notting Hill, London, England, into an influential Jewish family, [1] [2] a daughter of Ellis Arthur Franklin and Muriel Frances Waley. Her father was a London merchant banker who also taught electricity, magnetism, and World War I history at Working Men's College in the evenings and later became vice principal. Rosalind was the elder daughter of their five children. Her family helped settle Jewish refugees from Europe who had escaped the Nazis. [3]
From early childhood, Rosalind showed exceptional intellectual abilities. She attended St. Paul's Girls' School while young, and later studied chemistry at Newnham College, Cambridge, England. Her aptitude in science was clear from an early age. [3]
She was prepared to pursue a research fellowship in chemistry at Cambridge, but World War II derailed her plans. Instead she worked for the British Coal Utilisation Research Association, investigating the traits of carbon and coal, in addition to also serving as a London air raid warden. Her work during this time contributed to her doctoral thesis, resulting in her receiving her doctorate from Cambridge in 1945. From 1947 to 1950, she studied X-ray diffraction technology with Jacques Méring in Paris.[1]
In 1951, Rosalind began a fellowship at the Biophysical Laboratory at King's College, London. She applied what she learned of X-ray diffraction methods to the study of DNA, which was still a very unknown field. She was able to discover the density of DNA as well as the fact that it existed in a helical structure. The famous model of DNA presented by James Watson and Francis Crick at Cambridge University - two phosphate and sugar chains coiled around each other to form a double helix carrying the genetic information between them - was largely derived from and confirmed by Rosalind's superior work in X-ray crystallography. Her discovery of the dual helical structure was published in the journal Nature in 1953, side by side with the papers by Watson and Crick, and by Maurice Wilkins, et al. [4] [5] [6] Unfortunately, Rosalind was no longer alive by the time the other three researchers involved, Watson, Crick, and Wilkins, were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material." [1][7] [8]
From 1953 until her death, Rosalind worked in the Crystallography Laboratory at Birkbeck College in London, focusing on the molecular structure of the tobacco mosaic and polio viruses, most notably, the single strand nature of RNA within the virus.[1][3]
Rosalind died of complications from ovarian cancer on April 16, 1958 in Chelsea, London, England. [9] [3] [10] She is buried in Willesden United Synagogue Cemetery, Willesden, London, England.[11]
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F > Franklin > Rosalind Elsie Franklin
Categories: Jewish Notables | Jewish Roots | Willesden United Synagogue Cemetery, Brent, Middlesex | Birkbeck College, London | University of London | Newnham College, Cambridge | England Managed Profiles, Post-1700 | Famous Scientists of the 20th Century | Example Profiles of the Week | Notables
Franklin never worked with Watson and Crick. In fact, the crucial Photograph 51 (nothing to do with Area 51: the quotidian name stemmed from the fact that it was the 51st such diffraction photo Franklin and Gosling had taken in that particular series) got into Watson's hand unbeknownst to Franklin. Her work on it was done with graduate student Raymond Gosling in the Biophysical Laboratory at King's College, under the directorship of John Randall. By the beginning of 1953 disagreements had come to a head, partially stemming from Franklin being moved in the reporting structure under her colleague and peer, Maurice Wilkins.
Franklin was preparing to move to Birkbeck College where John Desmond Bernal, chair of the physics department, offered her her own research team. Raymond Gosling began working under Maurice Wilkins's supervision at Kings College. Gosling had been told to share all his data with Wilkins, and on 26 January 1953 Wilkins saw Photograph 51. Four days later, on January 30, Wilkins showed the photograph to James Watson. Watson and Crick were at Cavendish Laboratory.
Watson described Photograph 51 to Francis Crick and they decided this was strong enough evidence to confirm a hypothesis of the doubled-stranded, helical structure, and to begin building their model. The next day, on January 31, Watson went to Lawrence Bragg, the laboratory director, to get approval to order model components from the Cavendish Laboratory machine shop. And, of course, Francis Crick, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins went on to share the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
There was no love lost, and Watson went on to paint a...well, less than appreciative picture of Rosalind Franklin in the early chapters of his history of the research on DNA structure, The Double Helix (https://amzn.to/2PrWOkF).
Another line is also a bit misleading: "Her discovery of the dual helical structure was first published in 'Nature' journal in 1953." There seems an implication here that Franklin was the first to publish. In fact, there were three extremely brief pieces published simultaneously in the journal Nature, volume 171, number 4356 (25 Apr 1953): Watson and Crick's "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids" on pages 737 and 738 (and they cited Wilkins but made no mention of Franklin); "Molecular Structure of Deoxypentose Nucleic Acids," by Maurice Wilkins on pages 738 and 739; and Rosalind Franklin's "Molecular Configuration in Sodium Thymonucleate" on pages 740 and 741.
Since the profile is managed by the England Project, I don't want to make any narrative changes in the biography. And in fact I'd be a poor choice to do so because I'd never be able to avoid diving down the DNA rabbit hole. I'll add a couple of citations, and let the Project best sort out what changes, if any, should be made to the narrative.
You → Elizabeth Lorraine Humay your mother → James Melville Fletcher her father → David Melville Fletcher his father → James Miller Fletcher his father → Katherine Smith Fletcher his mother → David Duncan Melville her father → Andrew Donaldson Melville his father → Janet Melvill his mother → David Bell her father → Janet Bell his mother → Elizabeth Craig her sister → Janet Brodie her daughter → Sir James Grant of Grant, 6th Baronet of Colquhoun her son → Jean Duff his daughter → James Duff, 2nd Earl Fife her son → General Sir James Duff his son → Sir James Duff his son → Eliza Georgiana Tollemache his daughter → Hon. Alfred Douglas Tollemache her son → Humphrey Douglas Tollemache his son → Elsie Violet Tollemache his wife → William George Raphael her father → Elinor Jessel his sister → Kathleen Ella Franklin her daughter → Cecil Arthur Franklin her husband → Ellis Arthur Franklin his brother → Rosalind Elsie Franklin his daughter https://www.geni.com/people/Rosalind-Franklin/6000000009361651202
edited by Ken Morgan
Your cousin is on wikitree: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Morgan-13589 The first Kentuckyian to win a Nobel Prize!
edited by Mark Burch
"This was due largely in part to Rosalind's work..." It sounds self-contradictory.
We plan on featuring Rosalind as the Example Profile of the Week in the Connection finder next week. Between now and then is a good time to take a look at the sources and biography to see if there are updates and improvements that need made, especially those that will bring it up to WikiTree Style Guide standards. I will check on the profile closer to the week we'll feature it and make changes as necessary.
Thanks! Abby