By Sahra, Shanty, Zoe, and IndyKids Staff
by Elliott & Fry; Half-plate film negative, 11 June 1946
NPG x76929 © National Portrait Gallery, London
You may have heard about scientists James Watson and Francis Crick, who first discovered the shape of DNA, but have you heard of Rosalind Franklin? Franklin played a major role in helping reveal the shape of DNA: the double helix. DNA, otherwise known as deoxyribonucleic acid, “is the chemical material in each living thing that contains all the information about how that living thing will look and function,” according to Britannica Kids.
Born in 1920, Franklin had always wanted to be a scientist. In college, Franklin studied coal, and during World War II, she helped to create better gas masks for British soldiers. Her work at King’s College led her to start her work on DNA. Franklin first discovered the shape of DNA by taking a photo she called Photo 51. Photo 51 was taken in 1952 by using X-ray diffraction, and it took 100 hours to complete. The photo helped to determine that DNA’s structure is a double helix.
At the University of Cambridge, James Watson and Francis Crick were also trying to model the structure of DNA. Their work was unsuccessful, until Maurice Wilkins, Franklin’s colleague, gave them Photo 51 without Franklin knowing. With the photo, Watson and Crick were able to complete the structure of DNA and published their findings. Franklin didn’t get credit because many thought she copied their work and didn’t take her seriously because she was a woman.
Four years after Franklin died of cancer, Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962 for discovering the double helix structure of DNA. Rosalind Franklin’s contributions may have gone unnoticed at the time, but in recent years her work has been more appreciated.
