Rosalind Franklin

The Völklingen Ironworks flooded in red light
Copyright: Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte | Oliver Dietze

Rosalind Franklin MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology CC BY SA 4

Rosalind Franklin MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology CC BY SA 4
Copyright: | MRC-Laboratory-of-Molecular-Biology | |CC-BY-SA-4.0

Born in 1920 in Notting Hill, UK
Died in 1958 in London, UK

Work

Photo 51, X-ray diffraction image of the double helix structure of the DNA molecule

Franklin Photo 51 x ray diffraction image

Franklin Photo 51 x ray diffraction image
Copyright: Public Domain

In 1953, biochemist Rosalind Franklin used the X-ray diffraction image Photo 51 to recognise the essential structural properties of DNA, the molecular blueprint of life. This provided the template for the double helix model proposed by James Watson and Francis Crick, who were awarded the Nobel Prize, while Franklin's contribution was overlooked for a long time.

Exhibitions