Women in Nuclear History: Rosalind Elsie Franklin

Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958) – British biophysicist and X-ray crystallographer famous for contributions to the understanding of the DNA structure’s double helix. She was called “wronged heroine,” the “dark lady of DNA,” and “forgotten heroine” since she was NOT recognized during her short lifetime for her role and a famous photo 51 that helped to identify DNA’s double helix. In April 2023 scientists concluded that she should be seen as an “equal player” in the DNA discovery process.

1. She was born into an affluent Jewish origin family in London, with women in her family being active in the suffrage movement. She showed exceptional scholastic abilities and was sent to good private girls schools that taught sciences. She was an excellent student.

2. Rosalind received a PhD from Cambridge in 1945. In her PhD thesis Franklin studied porosity of coal. She discovered how the pores network and its permeability influence a coal performance for fuels and also for production of gas masks used during World War II.

3. After graduation she moved to the “Centre national de la recherche scientifique” (CNRS) in Paris to study X-ray crystallography for three years. She learned how to use crystallography to study amorphous substances and different carbonaceous materials, in particular the changes to the arrangement of atoms when these are converted to graphite. Franklin coined the terms “graphitizing” and “non-graphitizing” carbon.

4. In 1950 she moved back to the UK and worked as a research associate at King’s College London. She was originally appointed to work on X-ray diffraction of proteins and lipids in solution, but then she was redirected to DNA fibers.

5. Franklin used a new fine-focused X-ray tube and micro-camera that she refined, adjusted and focused to study the structure of the DNA together with Gosling, her assistant. Franklin first recorded the analysis in her notebook, which reads: “Evidence for spiral [meaning helical] structure” which she later presented in the lecture in November 1951. Franklin then named “A” and “B” respectively for the “crystalline dry” and “wet” forms.

6. In February 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick of the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge University started building a molecular model of the B-DNA using data similar to that available to both teams at King’s. They used a famous photo 51 of double helix, from Franklin’s records as the evidence, without her knowing it.

7. Watson suggested she did not know how to interpret her own data, but in reality, Franklin discovered the helix model of form “B,” according to her she was just cautious before publishing it. Her conclusion on the helical nature was evident, though she failed to understand the complete organization of the DNA strands, as the possibility of two strands running in opposite directions did not occur to her.

8. Since the mid 1953 until her death, Franklin worked in Birkbeck College. She inherited a quite dilapidated laboratory, but she improved it greatly, was advising several students and published many scientific papers related to the RNA structure of viruses.

9. Rosalind Franklin died in London at age 37 from ovarian cancer possibly caused by her extensive exposure to radiation while doing X-ray crystallography work. Rosalyn struggled with inequality since she was assertive, smart and intense. She was looking at the eyes of a person she talked to, which was not “women-like” in these times. She also had the courage to discuss and not agree with her male colleagues.

10. James Watson and Francis Crick published their DNA double helix model in “Nature” in 1953 where she was just a footnote. They were awarded a Nobel prize in 1962. The discovery of the exact structure of double helix was a huge step for humankind to understand genetics and heredity.

References:

https://www.livescience.com/39804-rosalind-franklin.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_51
https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/profile/rosalind-franklin/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Franklin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIP0lYrdirI (Rosalind Franklin: DNA’s unsung hero – Cláudio L. Guerra)
https://time.com/5793551/rosalind-franklin-100-women-of-the-year/