![]() ![]() Their model was published alongside their data on the subject – as well as articles by Franklin, Gosling, and Wilkins. In 1953, the scientific journal Nature published Watson and Crick’s chemical model of a DNA double helix molecule. Once Franklin officially left a few days later, Gosling showed the photo to Wilkins – and Wilkins then showed it to his other co-workers, James Watson and Francis Crick. As a result, Gosling was assigned to a new graduate advisor, Maurice Wilkins. Not only was she more focused on solving the A-DNA mystery, but she was also about to leave her position at King’s College. However, in the moment, Franklin was not as excited about Photo 51 as Gosling was. In fact, Franklin and Gosling’s famous Photo 51 (taken in 1952) was of B-DNA. ![]() At this point, results were still inconclusive about A-DNA’s shape, but the research team had concluded that B-DNA was definitely a helix. By the end of the year she discovered that DNA could exist either as a thin fiber at a relatively high humidity (in a “wet” form called A-DNA), or in dry conditions in a compact form (in a “crystalline” form called B-DNA). Her new assistant in DNA research was a graduate student named Raymond Gosling. In late 1951, she moved back to London to work as a research associate at King’s College. She published her work in a 1951 paper in the prestigious scientific journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society. At the Laboratoire, Franklin used this method to examine different types of coal, thus building off of her thesis research. ![]() This process, also called X-ray diffraction, involves reflecting X-rays off of crystals in order to determine the crystal’s structure and makeup. Two years later, she got a job as a researcher in the Laboratoire Central des Services Chimiques de l'État in Paris, France. In 1945, Franklin earned a PhD from the University of Cambridge, for her thesis exploring the density and porosity of coal. Franklin studied natural sciences at Newnham College at the University of Cambridge, where she graduated from her initial studies in 1941. Her father Ellis taught classes about magnetism and electricity at the Working Men’s College of London and greatly encouraged his daughter to study science as she grew up. The Franklins were a prominent British Jewish family many of her relatives were involved in British politics, and some were even activists for women’s suffrage. It’s a fitting name since this rover – set to launch later this decade – is programmed to search for genetic molecules or compounds to prove if there was ever life on Mars.įranklin was born July 25, 1920, in the Notting Hill neighborhood of London, England. Her legacy inspired the European Space Agency to name an ExoMars Rover for her in 2019. Franklin was the biochemist who, in 1952, was the first to discover that DNA was double-helix-shaped after taking Photo 51 with her assistant. But many others in the present day, like her biographer Brenda Maddox, see it as proof of her strong influence on science. Rosalind Franklin’s contemporary title as the “Dark Lady of DNA” was originally meant as an insult by one of her coworkers. ![]()
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