Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Franklin

When you think of who discovered DNA, the names Watson and Cricke may

come to mind. In reality, many other scientists' research lead to

their discovery. That information was not necessarily given freely.

When Watson saw a picture of DNA taken by Rosalind Franklin a "light

bulb" went on. It was then that he realized exactly what it looked

like and was able to publish his results. Unfortunately, Rosalind did

not offer this information to Watson and Cricke. It was stolen from

her. She did not receive credit for the work she had done with DNA and

therefore has gone unnoticed in most biology classes.

On July 25 1920, Rosalind Elsie Franklin was born in London England.

She excelled in school, especially chemistry and biology. At the age

of 15, Franklin had decided to become a scientist even thought her

father wanted her to be a social worker. (Maisel,1) Her father

disapproved of a University Education for women and initially refused

to pay for admission. (Maisel, 1) Eventually he agreed to pay for, but

only after constant pressure from her mother and aunt. (Sayre, 1) It

was then that she attended Newnham College in Cambridge in 1938.

(Maisel, 1)

Following her years of education, she had many accomplishments in her

career as a scientist. Franklin's studies lead to major discoveries

about the properties of coal, the density of DNA and more importantly,

it's helical conformation. (Sayre, 1) Unfortunately, most biology

classes credit the discovery of DNA's structure solely to Watson and

Cricke. The importance of Rosalind Franklin's work is simply ignored.

Immediately after her graduation from Newnham College in ...

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...logy

classes do not attribute any of her hard work to her. She has greatly

impacted the world and everyone's future.

Stephanie Luchenfield

1. Were there any parts of the Paper that need to be more clearly

explained? (ie scientific terms)? I am familiar with scientific terms

so I understood what you were talking about.

2. Did it adequately explain why she was such an important person in

history? Yes

3. Was it easy to follow? I found a lot of it hard to follow mainly

because there were some parts that felt like I was reading a textbook.

4. What was your favorite part of the paper? I liked the part when you

really explain the cloning process on regular terms by related what

you were talking about with the sheep and the movie.

. It was also where she "crossed paths" with Maurice Wilkins.(maire,

1)