Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Franklin

As hard as is it is today for women to succeed in the sciences, one must give kudos to those that came before us. These are the women that paved the way for today's generation of women scientists. One such woman is Rosalind Elsie Franklin, a chemist who had a great impact on the modern day field of genetics.

Rosalind was the second of five children. She was born on July 25, 1920 in London. The Franklin's were an upper-class family who lived a life of luxury. Rosalind never even had to go to school - she would have been provided for from her family's wealth. As a child, she never felt like she was understood. She hated pretend games and did not play with dolls. Rosalind had to find the facts behind everything before she became a believer (McGrayne, 1993).

Rosalind attended St. Paul's Girls' School in London. Here she had excellent training in science classes. It was here that she decided her career path. She applied to Cambridge University and passed the entrance exams. However, she almost didn't make it. Rosalind's father did not think that women should attend university and refused to pay for her education. Luckily, Rosalind's mother and an aunt became irate and said they would pay. Of course, Rosalind's father recanted in the effort not to be embarrassed by women paying for the education (McGrayne, 1993).

The experience at Cambridge was not the best for Rosalind. There was a stuffy atmosphere for the women studying there. She vowed never to become like the women faculty members there. She graduated in 1941 with a degree in Chemistry (World Book, 2001). She then took a job with Nobel chemist, Ronald Norrish (McGrayne, 1993). From here she took a job with the British Coal Utilization Research As...

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...tealing Rosalind's data, but this is close to recognition as she ever comes (McGrayne, 1993).

So, while this woman has never been in the limelight, she pioneered molecular genetics as it is today. Without her stubborn need for the facts, the human genome would still be an enigma to us today. She is truly a role model for all women today.

Works Cited

Access Excellence. 1999. http://www.accessexcellence.org/AB/BC/Rosalind_Franklin.html

Bernstein, Jeremy. Experiencing Science. New York. Basic Books, Inc., Publishers. 1978. 143-163.

McGrayne, Sharon Bertsch. Nobel Prize Women in Science. New York. Birch Lane Press. 1993. 304-332.

North, Anthony. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The University of Leeds. http://www.cryst.bbk.ac.uk/BBS/whatis/cryst_an.html.

World Book. 2001. http://www.worldbook.com/fun/wscimed/html/chemists.html.