Rosalind Franklin: Difference between revisions

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Franklin left King's College, London in mid-March 1953 for [[Birkbeck, University of London|Birkbeck College]] in a move that had been planned for some time, to which she described (in a letter to Adriene Weill in Paris)as "moving from a palcae to the slums... but pleasanter all the same."<ref name="Maddox, p. 205" /> She was recruited by physics department chair [[J. D. Bernal]],<ref>Maddox, p. 229</ref> a brilliant crystallographer who happened to be an Irish communist, known for promoting women crystallographers. She worked as a senior scientist with her own research group, funded by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC).<ref>Maddox, p. 235</ref> Despite the parting words of Bernall to stop her interest in nucleic acids, she helped Gosling to finish his thesis, although she was no longer his official supervisor. Together they published the first evidence of double helix in the A form of DNA in 25 July issue of ''Nature''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Franklin|first1=RE|last2=Gosling|first2=RG|title=Evidence for 2-chain helix in crystalline structure of sodium deoxyribonucleate.|journal=Nature|date=1953|volume=172|issue=4369|pages=156-157|doi=10.1038/172156a0|pmid=13072614}}</ref> Moreover, she continued to venture into another major nucleic acid, [[RNA]], a molecule equally central to life as [[DNA]]. She again used X-ray crystallography to study the structure of the [[tobacco mosaic virus]] (TMV), an RNA virus. Her meeting with [[Aaron Klug]] in the early 1954 proved to be a longstanding and successful collaboration. Klug had just then earned his PhD from Trinity College, Cambridge, and joined Birkbeck in the late 1953. In 1955 Franklin published her first major works on TMV ''Nature'', in which she described that TMV [[virus]] particles were all of the same length.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Franklin|first1=RE.|title=Structure of Tobacco Mosaic Virus|journal=Nature|year=1955|volume=175|issue=4452|pages=379–381|doi=10.1038/175379a0|pmid=14356181}}</ref> This was in direct contradiction to the ideas of the eminent [[virologist]] [[Norman Pirie]], though her observation ultimately proved correct.<ref>Maddox, p. 252</ref>
Franklin left King's College, London in mid-March 1953 for [[Birkbeck, University of London|Birkbeck College]] in a move that had been planned for some time, to which she described (in a letter to Adriene Weill in Paris)as "moving from a palcae to the slums... but pleasanter all the same."<ref name="Maddox, p. 205" /> She was recruited by physics department chair [[J. D. Bernal]],<ref>Maddox, p. 229</ref> a brilliant crystallographer who happened to be an Irish communist, known for promoting women crystallographers. She worked as a senior scientist with her own research group, funded by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC).<ref>Maddox, p. 235</ref> Despite the parting words of Bernall to stop her interest in nucleic acids, she helped Gosling to finish his thesis, although she was no longer his official supervisor. Together they published the first evidence of double helix in the A form of DNA in 25 July issue of ''Nature''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Franklin|first1=RE|last2=Gosling|first2=RG|title=Evidence for 2-chain helix in crystalline structure of sodium deoxyribonucleate.|journal=Nature|date=1953|volume=172|issue=4369|pages=156-157|doi=10.1038/172156a0|pmid=13072614}}</ref> Moreover, she continued to venture into another major nucleic acid, [[RNA]], a molecule equally central to life as [[DNA]]. She again used X-ray crystallography to study the structure of the [[tobacco mosaic virus]] (TMV), an RNA virus. Her meeting with [[Aaron Klug]] in the early 1954 proved to be a longstanding and successful collaboration. Klug had just then earned his PhD from Trinity College, Cambridge, and joined Birkbeck in the late 1953. In 1955 Franklin published her first major works on TMV ''Nature'', in which she described that TMV [[virus]] particles were all of the same length.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Franklin|first1=RE.|title=Structure of Tobacco Mosaic Virus|journal=Nature|year=1955|volume=175|issue=4452|pages=379–381|doi=10.1038/175379a0|pmid=14356181}}</ref> This was in direct contradiction to the ideas of the eminent [[virologist]] [[Norman Pirie]], though her observation ultimately proved correct.<ref>Maddox, p. 252</ref>


Franklin assigned the study of the complete structure of TMV to her [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] student [[Kenneth Holmes]]. They soon discovered (published in 1956) that the covering of TMV was protein molecules arranged in helices.<ref>Franklin and Holmes, 1956</ref> Her colleague Klug worked on spherical viruses with his student John Finch, with Franklin was coordinating and overseeing the work.<ref>Maddox, p. 254</ref> As a team, from 1956 they started publishing seminal works on TMV,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Franklin|first1=Rosalind E.|last2=Klug|first2=A.|title=The nature of the helical groove on the tobacco mosaic virus particle X-ray diffraction studies|journal=Biochimica et Biophysica Acta|date=1956|volume=19|pages=403–416|doi=10.1016/0006-3002(56)90463-2|pmid=13315300}}</ref> cucumber virus 4 and turnip yellow mosaic virus.<re>Franklin ''et al.'', 1958</ref>
Franklin assigned the study of the complete structure of TMV to her [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] student [[Kenneth Holmes]]. They soon discovered (published in 1956) that the covering of TMV was protein molecules arranged in helices.<ref>Franklin and Holmes, 1956</ref> Her colleague Klug worked on spherical viruses with his student John Finch, with Franklin was coordinating and overseeing the work.<ref>Maddox, p. 254</ref> As a team, from 1956 they started publishing seminal works on TMV,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Franklin|first1=Rosalind E.|last2=Klug|first2=A.|title=The nature of the helical groove on the tobacco mosaic virus particle X-ray diffraction studies|journal=Biochimica et Biophysica Acta|date=1956|volume=19|pages=403–416|doi=10.1016/0006-3002(56)90463-2|pmid=13315300}}</ref> cucumber virus 4 and turnip yellow mosaic virus.<ref>Franklin ''et al.'', 1958</ref>


Franklin also had a [[research assistant]], James Watt, subsidised by the [[National Coal Board]] and was now the Leader of the ARC group at Birkbeck.<ref>Maddox, p. 256</ref> By the end of 1955 her team had completed a model of the TMV, to be exhibited at the upcoming Brussels World's fair. The Birkbeck team members continued working on RNA viruses affecting several plants, including potato, turnip, tomato and pea.<ref>Maddox, p. 262</ref> Franklin and [[Donald Caspar]] produced a paper each in ''Nature'' that taken together demonstrated that the [[RNA]] in TMV is wound along the inner surface of the hollow virus.<ref>Maddox, p. 269</ref><ref>Franklin (1956)</ref>
Franklin also had a [[research assistant]], James Watt, subsidised by the [[National Coal Board]] and was now the Leader of the ARC group at Birkbeck.<ref>Maddox, p. 256</ref> By the end of 1955 her team had completed a model of the TMV, to be exhibited at the upcoming Brussels World's fair. The Birkbeck team members continued working on RNA viruses affecting several plants, including potato, turnip, tomato and pea.<ref>Maddox, p. 262</ref> In 1955 the team was joined by an American post-doctoral student [[Donald Caspar]]. He worked on the precise location of RNA molecules in TMV. In 1956 he and Franklin published an individual but complimentary papers, by which they demonstrated that the [[RNA]] in TMV is wound along the inner surface of the hollow virus.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Franklin|first1=RE|title=Structure of Tobacco Mosaic Virus: Location of the Ribonucleic Acid in the Tobacco Mosaic Virus Particle|journal=Nature|year=1956|volume=177|issue=4516|pages=928–930|doi=10.1038/177928b0}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Casper|first1=D. L. D.|title=Structure of Tobacco Mosaic Virus: Radial Density Distribution in the Tobacco Mosaic Virus Particle|journal=Nature|date=1956|volume=177|issue=4516|pages=928–928|doi=10.1038/177928a0}}</ref>


Her main research team at Birkbeck College, London Klug, Finch and Holmes moved to the [[Laboratory of Molecular Biology]], Cambridge in 1962.
Her main research team at Birkbeck College, London Klug, Finch and Holmes moved to the [[Laboratory of Molecular Biology]], Cambridge in 1962.

Revision as of 14:32, 20 January 2015

Rosalind Elsie Franklin
Born
Rosalind Elsie Franklin

(1920-07-25)25 July 1920
Died16 April 1958(1958-04-16) (aged 37)
Chelsea, London, England
Cause of deathOvarian cancer
Resting placeWillesden United Synagogue Cemetery
51°32′41″N 0°14′24″W / 51.5447°N 0.2399°W / 51.5447; -0.2399
NationalityBritish
Alma materNewnham College, Cambridge
Known forStructure of DNA
Fine structure of coal and graphite
Structure of viruses
Scientific career
FieldsPhysical chemistry
X-ray crystallography
InstitutionsBritish Coal Utilisation Research Association
Laboratoire Central des Services Chimiques de l'État
King's College, London
Birkbeck College, London
Thesis The physical chemistry of solid organic colloids with special reference to coal  (1945)

Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958)[1] was an English chemist and X-ray crystallographer who made critical contributions to the understanding of the fine molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA, viruses, coal, and graphite.[2] Her DNA work achieved the most fame because DNA plays an essential role in cell metabolism and genetics, and the discovery of its structure by Watson and Crick helped them understand how genetic information passes from parents to their offspring.

Franklin is best known for her work on the X-ray diffraction images of DNA, which led to the discovery of the DNA double helix. According to Francis Crick, her data and research were key in determining the structure.[3] Watson confirmed this opinion in his own statement at the opening of the King's College London Franklin–Wilkins building in 2000 and formulating Crick and James Watson's 1953 model regarding the structure of DNA.[4] Franklin's images of X-ray diffraction, confirming the helical structure of DNA, were shown to Watson without her approval or knowledge. This image provided valuable insight into the DNA structure, but Franklin's scientific contributions to the discovery of the double helix are often overlooked.[5]

Unpublished drafts of her papers (written just as she was arranging to leave King's College, London) show that she had independently determined the overall B-form of the DNA helix and the location of the phosphate groups on the outside of the structure. Moreover, it was a report of Franklin's that convinced Crick and Watson that the backbones had to be on the outside,[5] which was crucial since before this both they and Linus Pauling had independently generated non-illuminating models with the chains inside and the bases pointing outwards.[6] However, her work was published third, in the series of three DNA Nature articles, led by the paper of Watson and Crick which only hinted at her contribution to their hypothesis.[7] Watson has suggested that Franklin would have ideally been awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with Maurice Wilkins.[8]

After finishing her portion of the work on DNA, Franklin led pioneering work on the tobacco mosaic virus and the polio virus.[9] She died in 1958 at the age of 37 of ovarian cancer.

Early life and education

Franklin was born in 50 Chepstow Villas,[10] Notting Hill, London into an affluent and influential British Jewish family.[11][12][13] Her father was Ellis Arthur Franklin (1894–1964), a politically liberal London merchant banker who taught at the city's Working Men's College, and her mother was Muriel Frances Waley (1894–1976). Rosalind was the elder daughter and the second child in the family of five children. Her father's uncle was Herbert Samuel (later Viscount Samuel), who was the Home Secretary in 1916 and the first practising Jew to serve in the British Cabinet.[14] Her aunt, Helen Caroline Franklin, was married to Norman de Mattos Bentwich, who was the Attorney General in the British Mandate of Palestine.[15] She was active in trade union organisation and the women's suffrage movement, and was later a member of the London County Council.[16][17] Franklin herself later became an agnostic.[18][19] Her uncle, Hugh Franklin, was another prominent figure in the suffrage movement, although his actions therein embarrassed the Franklin family.[13]

From early childhood, Franklin showed exceptional scholastic abilities. She was educated at St Paul's Girls' School[20][21] where she excelled in science, Latin,[22] and sports.[23] Her family was actively involved with in the Working Men's College, where her father taught the subjects of electricity, magnetism, and the history of the Great War in the evenings, later becoming the vice-principal.[24][25] Later Franklin's family helped settle Jewish refugees from Europe who had escaped the Nazis.[17]

Cambridge, Kingston and Paris

Franklin went to Newnham College, Cambridge in 1938 and studied chemistry within the Natural Sciences Tripos. Her teachers included the spectroscopist W.C. Price, who later became one of her senior colleagues at King's College.[26] In 1941, she was awarded Second Class Honours from her final exams. The distinction was accepted as a bachelor's degree in qualifications for employment. Cambridge began awarding titular B.A. and M.A. degrees to women from 1947, and the previous women graduates retroactively received these.[27]

Franklin was there awarded a research fellowship. According to an entry on the web site of the Dolan DNA Learning Center of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, "She spent a year in R.G.W. Norrish's lab without great success."[28] Resigning from Norrish's Lab, Franklin fulfilled the requirements of the National Service Act by working as an Assistant Research Officer at the British Coal Utilisation Research Association (BCURA).[9] The BCURA was located on the Coombe Springs Estate near Kingston upon Thames near the southwestern boundary of London. Professor Norrish acted as advisor to the military at BCURA. John G. Bennett was the Director. Marcello Pirani and Victor Goldschmidt, both refugees from the Nazis, were consultants and lectured at BCURA while Franklin attended.[2]

She studied the porosity of coal and compared helium's density. Through this, she discovered the relationship between the fine constrictions in the pores of coals and the permeability of the porous space. By concluding that substances were expelled in order of molecular size as temperature increased, Franklin helped classify coals and accurately predict their performance for fuel purposes and for production of wartime devices (i.e. gas masks).[29] This work was the basis of her Ph.D. thesis The physical chemistry of solid organic colloids with special reference to coal for which Cambridge University awarded her a Ph.D. in 1945. It was also the basis of several papers.[2]

The French scientist Adrienne Weill was one of Franklin's tutors at Newnham. At the end of World War II, according to Anne Sayre, author of Rosalind Franklin and DNA, Franklin asked Weill to let her know of job openings for "a physical chemist who knows very little physical chemistry, but quite a lot about the holes in coal". At a conference in the autumn of 1946, Weill introduced Franklin to Marcel Mathieu, a director of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the network of institutes that comprise the major part of the scientific research laboratories supported by the French government. This led to Franklin's appointment with Jacques Mering at the Laboratoire Central des Services Chimiques de l'Etat in Paris. Franklin joined the labo (as referred to by the staff) of Mering on 14 February 1947 as one of the fifteen chercheurs (researchers).[30][31]

Mering was an X-ray crystallographer who applied X-ray diffraction to the study of rayon and other amorphous substances, in contrast to the thousands of regular crystals that had been studied by this method for many years.[2] He taught her the practical aspects of applying X-ray crystallography to amorphous substances. This presented new challenges in the conduct of experiments and the interpretation of results. Franklin applied them to further problems related to coal, in particular the changes to the arrangement of atoms when it is converted to graphite.[2] Franklin published several further papers on this work. It became part of the mainstream of work on the physics and chemistry of coal, covered by a current monograph,[32] the annual[33] and other publications. Mering also continued the study of carbon in various forms, using X-ray diffraction and other methods.[34]

King's College, London

In January 1951, Franklin started working as a research associate at King's College, London in the Medical Research Council's (MRC) Biophysics Unit, directed by John Randall.[35] Although originally she was to have worked on X-ray diffraction of proteins and lipids in solution, Randall redirected her work to DNA fibres before she started working at King's since Franklin was to be the only experienced experimental diffraction researcher at King's in 1951.[36][37] He made this reassignment, even before she started working at King's, because of the following pioneering work by Maurice Wilkins and Raymond Gosling – a Ph.D. student assigned to help Franklin.[38][39]

Even using crude equipment, these two men had obtained an outstanding diffraction picture of DNA which sparked further interest in this molecule. Wilkins and Gosling had been carrying out X-ray diffraction analysis of DNA in the unit since May 1950, but Randall had not informed them that he had asked Franklin to take over both the DNA diffraction work and guidance of Gosling's thesis.[40] Randall's lack of communication about this reassignment significantly contributed to the well documented friction that developed between Wilkins and Franklin.[41]

Franklin, working with Gosling,[42] started to apply her expertise in X-ray diffraction techniques to the structure of DNA. She used a new fine focus X-ray tube and microcamera ordered by Wilkins, but which she refined, adjusted and focused carefully. Drawing upon her physical chemistry background, Franklin also skillfully manipulated the critical hydration of her specimens.[43] When Wilkins inquired about this improved technique, Franklin replied in terms which offended Wilkins as Franklin had "an air of cool superiority".[44]

Franklin's habit of intensely looking people in the eye while being concise, impatient and direct unnerved many of her colleagues. In stark contrast, Wilkins was very shy, and slowly calculating in speech while he avoided looking anyone directly in the eye.[45] In spite of the intense atmosphere, Franklin and Gosling discovered that there were two forms of DNA: at high humidity (when wet), the DNA fibre became long and thin; when it was dried it became short and fat.[46][47]

These forms were termed DNA "B" and "A" respectively. Because of the intense personality conflict developing between Franklin and Wilkins, Randall[48] divided the work on DNA. Franklin chose the data rich A form while Wilkins selected the "B" form[49][50] because his preliminary pictures had hinted it might be helical. He showed tremendous insight in this assessment of preliminary data. The X-ray diffraction pictures taken by Franklin at this time have been called, by J. D. Bernal, as "amongst the most beautiful X-ray photographs of any substance ever taken".[46]

By the end of 1951 it was generally accepted at King's that the B form of DNA was a helix, but after she had recorded an asymmetrical image in 1952 May, Franklin became unconvinced that the A form of DNA was helical in structure.[51] In July 1952, as a practical joke on Wilkins (who frequently expressed his view that both forms of DNA were helical), Franklin and Gosling produced a death notice regretting the 'death' of helical crystalline DNA (A-DNA).[52] During 1952, Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling worked at applying the Patterson function to the X-ray pictures of DNA they had produced.[53] This was a long and labour-intensive approach but would yield significant insight into the structure of the molecule.[54][55]

By January 1953, Franklin had reconciled her conflicting data, concluding that both DNA forms had two helices, and had started to write a series of three draft manuscripts, two of which included a double helical DNA backbone (see below). Her two A form manuscripts reached Acta Crystallographica in Copenhagen on 6 March 1953,[56] one day before Crick and Watson had completed their model.[57] Franklin must have mailed them while the Cambridge team was building their model, and certainly had written them before she knew of their work. On 8 July 1953 she modified one of these "in proof", Acta articles "in light of recent work" by the King's and Cambridge research teams.[58]

The third draft paper on the "B" form of DNA, dated 17 March 1953, was discovered years later amongst her papers, by Franklin's Birkbeck colleague, Aaron Klug. He then published an evaluation of the draft's close correlation with the third of the original trio of 25 April 1953 Nature DNA articles.[59] Klug designed this paper to complement the first article he had written defending Franklin's significant contribution to DNA structure.[60] He had written this first article in response to the incomplete picture of Franklin's work depicted in Watson's 1968 memoir, The Double Helix.

As vividly described in The Double Helix, on 30 January 1953, Watson travelled to King's carrying a preprint of Linus Pauling's incorrect proposal for DNA structure. Since Wilkins was not in his office, Watson went to Franklin's lab with his urgent message that they should all collaborate before Pauling discovered his error. The unimpressed Franklin became angry when Watson suggested she did not know how to interpret her own data. Watson hastily retreated, backing into Wilkins who had been attracted by the commotion. Wilkins commiserated with his harried friend and then changed the course of DNA history with the following disclosure. Without Franklin's permission or knowledge, Wilkins showed Watson Franklin's famous photograph 51. Watson, in turn, showed Wilkins a prepublication manuscript by Pauling and Corey.[61] Franklin and Gosling's photo 51 gave the Cambridge pair critical insights into the DNA structure, whereas Pauling and Corey's paper described a molecule remarkably like their first incorrect model.

DNA modelling

In February 1953, Francis Crick and James D. Watson of the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge University had started to build a model of the B form of DNA using data similar to that available to both teams at King's. Much of their data were derived directly from research done at King's by Wilkins and Franklin. Franklin's research was completed by February 1953, ahead of her move to Birkbeck, and her data were critical.[62] Model building had been applied successfully in the elucidation of the structure of the alpha helix by Linus Pauling in 1951,[49][63] but Franklin was opposed to prematurely building theoretical models, until sufficient data were obtained properly to guide the model building. She took the view that building a model was to be undertaken only after enough of the structure was known.[51][64]

Ever cautious, she wanted to eliminate misleading possibilities. Photographs of her Birkbeck work table show that she routinely used small molecular models, although certainly not ones on the grand scale successfully used at Cambridge for DNA. In the middle of February 1953, Crick's thesis advisor, Max Perutz, gave Crick a copy of a report written for a Medical Research Council biophysics committee visit to King's in December 1952, containing many of Franklin's crystallographic calculations.[65]

Since Franklin had decided to transfer to Birkbeck College and Randall had insisted that all DNA work must stay at King's, Wilkins was given copies of Franklin's diffraction photographs by Gosling. By 28 February 1953, Watson and Crick felt they had solved the problem enough for Crick to proclaim (in the local pub) that they had "found the secret of life".[66] However they knew they must complete their model before they could be certain.[67]

Watson and Crick finished building their model on 7 March 1953, one day before they received a letter from Wilkins stating that Franklin was finally leaving and they could put "all hands to the pump".[68] This was also one day after Franklin's two A form papers had reached Acta Crystallographica. Wilkins came to see the model the following week, according to Franklin's biographer Brenda Maddox on 12 March, and allegedly informed Gosling on his return to King's.[69]

It is uncertain how long it took for Gosling to inform Franklin at Birkbeck, but her original 17 March B form manuscript does not reflect any knowledge of the Cambridge model. Franklin did modify this draft later before publishing it as the third in the trio of 25 April 1953 Nature articles. On 18 March,[70] in response to receiving a copy of their preliminary manuscript, Wilkins penned the following "I think you're a couple of old rogues, but you may well have something".[71]

Crick and Watson then published their model in Nature on 25 April 1953 in an article describing the double-helical structure of DNA with only a footnote acknowledging "having been stimulated by a general knowledge of" Franklin and Wilkin's 'unpublished' contribution.[4] Actually, although it was the bare minimum, they had just enough specific knowledge of Franklin and Gosling's data upon which to base their model. As a result of a deal struck by the two laboratory directors, articles by Wilkins and Franklin, which included their X-ray diffraction data, were modified and then published second and third in the same issue of Nature, seemingly only in support of the Crick and Watson theoretical paper which proposed a model for the B form of DNA.[72][73]

Weeks later, on 10 April, Franklin wrote to Crick for permission to see their model.[74] Franklin retained her scepticism for premature model building even after seeing the Watson-Crick model, and remained unimpressed. She is reported to have commented, "It's very pretty, but how are they going to prove it?" As an experimental scientist Franklin seems to have been interested in producing far greater evidence before publishing-as-proven a proposed model. As such her response to the Watson-Crick model was in keeping with her cautious approach to science.[75]

However, as documented above, she did not hesitate to publish preliminary ideas about DNA in Acta, even before they could be definitively proven. Most of the scientific community hesitated several years before accepting the double helix proposal. At first mainly geneticists embraced the model because of its obvious genetic implications.[76][77][78]

Birkbeck College

An electronmicrograph of tobacco mosaic virus.

Franklin left King's College, London in mid-March 1953 for Birkbeck College in a move that had been planned for some time, to which she described (in a letter to Adriene Weill in Paris)as "moving from a palcae to the slums... but pleasanter all the same."[79] She was recruited by physics department chair J. D. Bernal,[80] a brilliant crystallographer who happened to be an Irish communist, known for promoting women crystallographers. She worked as a senior scientist with her own research group, funded by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC).[81] Despite the parting words of Bernall to stop her interest in nucleic acids, she helped Gosling to finish his thesis, although she was no longer his official supervisor. Together they published the first evidence of double helix in the A form of DNA in 25 July issue of Nature.[82] Moreover, she continued to venture into another major nucleic acid, RNA, a molecule equally central to life as DNA. She again used X-ray crystallography to study the structure of the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), an RNA virus. Her meeting with Aaron Klug in the early 1954 proved to be a longstanding and successful collaboration. Klug had just then earned his PhD from Trinity College, Cambridge, and joined Birkbeck in the late 1953. In 1955 Franklin published her first major works on TMV Nature, in which she described that TMV virus particles were all of the same length.[83] This was in direct contradiction to the ideas of the eminent virologist Norman Pirie, though her observation ultimately proved correct.[84]

Franklin assigned the study of the complete structure of TMV to her PhD student Kenneth Holmes. They soon discovered (published in 1956) that the covering of TMV was protein molecules arranged in helices.[85] Her colleague Klug worked on spherical viruses with his student John Finch, with Franklin was coordinating and overseeing the work.[86] As a team, from 1956 they started publishing seminal works on TMV,[87] cucumber virus 4 and turnip yellow mosaic virus.[88]

Franklin also had a research assistant, James Watt, subsidised by the National Coal Board and was now the Leader of the ARC group at Birkbeck.[89] By the end of 1955 her team had completed a model of the TMV, to be exhibited at the upcoming Brussels World's fair. The Birkbeck team members continued working on RNA viruses affecting several plants, including potato, turnip, tomato and pea.[90] In 1955 the team was joined by an American post-doctoral student Donald Caspar. He worked on the precise location of RNA molecules in TMV. In 1956 he and Franklin published an individual but complimentary papers, by which they demonstrated that the RNA in TMV is wound along the inner surface of the hollow virus.[91][92]

Her main research team at Birkbeck College, London Klug, Finch and Holmes moved to the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge in 1962.

Illness and death

In mid-1956, while on a work-related trip to the United States, Franklin first began to suspect a health problem.[93] An operation in September of the same year revealed two tumours in her abdomen.[94] After this period and other periods of hospitalization, Franklin spent time convalescing with various friends and family members. These included Anne Sayre, Francis Crick, his wife Odile, with whom Franklin had formed a strong friendship,[95] and finally with the Roland and Nina Franklin family where Rosalind's nieces and nephews bolstered her spirits.

Franklin chose not to stay with her parents because her mother's uncontrollable grief and crying upset her too much. Even while undergoing cancer treatment, Franklin continued to work, and her group continued to produce results – seven papers in 1956 and six more in 1957.[96] In 1957, the group was also working on the polio virus and had obtained funding from the Public Health Service of the National Institutes of Health in the United States for this.[97]

At the end of 1957, Franklin again fell ill and she was admitted to the Royal Marsden Hospital. On 2 December, she made her will. She named her three brothers as executors and made her colleague Aaron Klug the principal beneficiary, who would receive ₤3,000 and her Austin car. Her other friends Mair Livingstone would get ₤2,000, Anne Piper ₤1,000, and her nurse Miss Griffith ₤250. The remainder of the estate was to be used for charities.[98] She returned to work in January 1958, and she was given a promotion to Research Associate in Biophysics on 25 February.[99] She fell ill again on 30 March, and she died on 16 April 1958, in Chelsea, London,[100][101] of bronchopneumonia, secondary carcinomatosis, and ovarian cancer. Exposure to X-ray radiation is sometimes considered to be a possible factor in her illness.[102]

Other members of her family have died of cancer, and the incidence of gynaecological cancer is known to be disproportionately high among Ashkenazi Jews.[103] Her death certificate read: A Research Scientist, Spinster, Daughter of Ellis Arthur Franklin, a Banker.[104] She was interred on 17 April 1958 in the family plot at Willesden United Synagogue Cemetery at Beaconsfield Road in London Borough of Brent.[105] The inscription on her tombstone reads:[106][107]

IN MEMORY OF
ROSALIND ELSIE FRANKLIN
מ' רחל בת ר' יהודה
DEARLY LOVED ELDER DAUGHTER OF
ELLIS AND MURIEL FRANKLIN
25TH JULY 1920 - 16TH APRIL 1958
SCIENTIST
HER RESEARCH AND DISCOVERIES ON
VIRUSES REMAIN OF LASTING BENEFIT
TO MANKIND
ת נ צ ב ה [Hebrew initials for "her soul shall be bound in the bundle of life"]

Controversies after death

Various controversies surrounding Rosalind Franklin came to light following her death.

Allegations of sexism

Sayre, one of Franklin's biographers, states "In 1951 ... King's College as an institution, was not distinguished for the welcome that it offered to women ... Rosalind ... was unused to purdah [a religious and social institution of female seclusion] ... there was one other woman scientist on the laboratory staff" (page 96, lines 8 to 10; page 97, line 4;page 99, footnote). Andrzej Stasiak states "Sayre's book became widely cited in feminist circles for exposing rampant sexism in science."[108] Farooq Hussain states "there were seven women in the biophysics department ... Jean Hanson became an FRS, Dame Honor B. Fell, Director of Strangeways Laboratory, supervised the biologists".[109] Maddox states, (page 134, final paragraph) "Randall ... did have many women on his staff ... they found him ... sympathetic and helpful."

Sayre states "that while the male staff at King's lunched in a large, comfortable, rather clubby dining room" the female staff of all ranks "lunched in the student's hall or away from the premises".[110][111] Elkin states that most of the MRC group typically ate lunch together (including Franklin) in the mixed dining room discussed below.[112] And Maddox states, of Randall, "He liked to see his flock, men and women, come together for morning coffee, and at lunch in the joint dining room, where he ate with them nearly every day."

Sexism is said to pervade the memoir of one peer, James Watson, in his book The Double Helix published 10 years after Franklin's death and after Watson had returned from Cambridge to Harvard.[113] In this, he denigrates her work and frequently refers to her in patronizing terms as "Rosy", a name she never used. Much later, at Cambridge, Francis Crick acknowledges, "I'm afraid we always used to adopt – let's say, a patronizing attitude towards her." And another Cambridge colleague, Peter Cavendish, wrote in a letter, "Wilkins is supposed to be doing this work; Miss Franklin is evidently a fool."

Franklin herself is said to have been "not immune to the sexism rampant in these circles." In a letter to her parents in January 1939, she called one lecturer "very good, though female."[114][dubious ]

Contribution to the model of DNA

One of Rosalind Franklin's important contributions to the Crick and Watson model was her lecture at the seminar in November 1951, where she presented to those present, among them Watson, the two forms of the molecule, type A and type B, and her position whereby the phosphate units are located in the external part of the molecule. She also specified the amount of water to be found in the molecule in accordance with other parts of it, data that have considerable importance in terms of the stability of the molecule. Franklin was the first to discover and formulate these facts, which in fact constituted the basis for all later attempts to build a model of the molecule.

Photo 51 taken by Raymond Gosling in May 1952.

The other contribution included an X-ray photograph of B-DNA (called photograph 51),[115] that was briefly shown to James Watson by Maurice Wilkins in January 1953,[116][117] and a report written for an MRC biophysics committee visit to King's in December 1952 which was shown by Dr. Max Perutz at the Cavendish Laboratory to both Crick and Watson. This MRC report contained data from the King's group, including some of Rosalind Franklin's and Raymond Gosling's work, and was given to Francis Crick – who was working on his thesis on haemoglobin structure – by his thesis supervisor Max Perutz, a member of the visiting committee.[118][119]

Maurice Wilkins had been given photograph 51 by Rosalind Franklin's Ph.D. student Raymond Gosling, because she was leaving King's to work at Birkbeck. There was allegedly nothing untoward in this transfer of data to Wilkins,[120][121] since the Director Sir John Randall had insisted that all DNA work belonged exclusively to King's and had instructed Franklin in a letter to even stop thinking about it.[122] Also it was implied by Horace Freeland Judson, incorrectly, that Maurice Wilkins had taken the photograph out of Rosalind Franklin's drawer.[123] However, the B-DNA X-ray pattern photograph in question was shown to Watson by Wilkins – without Franklin's permission.[citation needed]

Likewise Max Perutz saw "no harm" in showing an MRC report containing the conclusions of Franklin and Gosling's X-ray data analysis to Crick, since it had not been marked as confidential, although "The report was not expected to reach outside eyes".[124] Indeed, after the publication of Watson's The Double Helix exposed Perutz's act, he received so many letters questioning his judgment that he felt the need to both answer them all[125] and to post a general statement in Science excusing himself on the basis of being "inexperienced and casual in administrative matters".[126]

Perutz also claimed that the MRC information was already made available to the Cambridge team when Watson had attended Franklin's seminar in November 1951. A preliminary version of much of the important material contained in the 1952 December MRC report had been presented by Franklin in a talk she had given in November 1951, which Dr. Watson had attended but not understood.[127][128]

The Perutz letter was as said one of three letters, published with letters by Wilkins and Watson, which discussed their various contributions. Watson clarified the importance of the data obtained from the MRC report as he had not recorded these data while attending Franklin's lecture in 1951. The upshot of all this was that when Crick and Watson started to build their model in February 1953 they were working with critical parameters that had been determined by Franklin in 1951, and which she and Gosling had significantly refined in 1952, as well as with published data and other very similar data to those available at King's. Rosalind Franklin was probably never aware that her work had been used during construction of the model,[129] but Maurice Wilkins was.

Recognition of her contribution to the model of DNA

Upon the completion of their model, Francis Crick and James Watson had invited Maurice Wilkins to be a co-author of their paper describing the structure.[130][79] Wilkins turned down this offer, as he had taken no part in building the model.[131] He later expressed regret that greater discussion of co-authorship had not taken place as this might have helped to clarify the contribution the work at King's had made to the discovery.[132] There is no doubt that Franklin's experimental data were used by Crick and Watson to build their model of DNA in 1953 (see above). Some, including Maddox as cited next, have explained this citation omission by suggesting that it may be a question of circumstance, because it would have been very difficult to cite the unpublished work from the MRC report they had seen.[133]

Indeed a clear timely acknowledgment would have been awkward, given the unorthodox manner in which data were transferred from King's to Cambridge. However, methods were available. Watson and Crick could have cited the MRC report as a personal communication or else cited the Acta articles in press, or most easily, the third Nature paper that they knew was in press. One of the most important accomplishments of Maddox's widely acclaimed biography is that Maddox made a well-received case for inadequate acknowledgement. "Such acknowledgement as they gave her was very muted and always coupled with the name of Wilkins".[134]

Twenty five years after the fact, the first clear recitation of Franklin's contribution appeared as it permeated Watson's account, The Double Helix, although it was buried under descriptions of Watson's (often quite negative) regard towards Franklin during the period of their work on DNA. This attitude is epitomized in the confrontation between Watson and Franklin over a preprint of Pauling's mistaken DNA manuscript.[135] Watson's words impelled Sayre to write her rebuttal, in which the entire chapter nine, "Winner Take All" has the structure of a legal brief dissecting and analyzing the topic of acknowledgement.[136]

Sayre's early analysis was often ignored because of perceived feminist overtones in her book. It should be noted that in their original paper, Watson and Crick do cite the X-ray diffraction work of both Wilkins and Franklin. In addition, they admit their having "been stimulated by a knowledge of the general nature of the unpublished experimental results and ideas of Dr. M. H. F. Wilkins, Dr. R. E. Franklin and their co-workers at King's College, London."[137] Franklin and Raymond Gosling's own publication in the same issue of Nature was the first publication of this more clarified X-ray image of DNA.[138]

Franklin's part in the discovery of the nature of DNA was shown in the 1987 TV Movie Life Story, starring Tim Pigott-Smith as Francis Crick, Alan Howard as Maurice Wilkins, Jeff Goldblum as James Watson, and Juliet Stevenson as Franklin. This movie portrayed Franklin as somewhat stern, but also alleged that Watson and Crick did use a lot of her work to do theirs.

A play entitled 'Rosalind: A Question of Life' was written by Deborah Gearing to mark the work of Rosalind, and was first published by Faber in 2006. Another play, Photograph 51 by Anna Ziegler, has been produced at several places in the USA. Ziegler's version of the 1951–53 'race' for the structure of DNA sometimes emphasizes the pivotal role of Franklin's research and her personality. Although sometimes altering history for dramatic effect, the play nevertheless illuminates many of the key issues of how science was and is conducted. False Assumptions by Lawrence Aronovitch is a play about the life of Marie Curie in which Franklin is portrayed as frustrated and angry at the lack of recognition for her scientific contributions.[139]

Nobel Prize

Franklin was never nominated for a Nobel Prize.[140][141] She had died in 1958, and during her lifetime the DNA structure was not considered as fully proven. It took Wilkins and his colleagues about seven years to collect enough data to prove and refine the proposed DNA structure. Moreover, its biological significance, as proposed by Watson and Crick, was not established. General acceptance for the DNA double helix and its function did not start until late in the 1950s, leading to Nobel nominations in 1960, 1961, and 1962 for Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and in 1962 for Nobel Prize in Chemistry.[142] The first major breakthrough was from Matthew Meselson and Franklin Stahl in 1958, who experimentally showed the DNA replication of a bacterium Escherichia coli.[143] Now known as Meselson–Stahl experiment, DNA was found to replicate into two double-stranded helices, with each helix having one of the original DNA strands. This DNA replication was firmly established by 1961 after further demonstration in other species,[144] and of the stepwise chemical reaction.[145][146] According to the 1961 Crick–Monod letter, this experimental proof, along with Wilkins having initiated the DNA diffraction work, were the reasons why Crick felt that Wilkins should be included in the DNA Nobel prize.[3]

In 1962 the Nobel Prize was subsequently awarded to Crick, Watson, and Wilkins.[9][147][148] It is not clear whether she would have been included, had she lived.[149] The award was for their body of work on nucleic acids and not exclusively for the discovery of the structure of DNA.[150] By the time of the award Wilkins had been working on the structure of DNA for more than 10 years, and had done much to confirm the Watson–Crick model.[151] Crick had been working on the genetic code at Cambridge and Watson had worked on RNA for some years.[152] Watson has suggested that ideally Wilkins and Franklin would have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.[8]

Posthumous recognition

Blue plaque on SW10, Drayton Gardens, Donovan Court
  • 1992, English Heritage placed a blue plaque on the entrance wall of SW10, Drayton Gardens, 107, Donovan Court, where Rosalind Franklin lived during her professional career till her death.[154] The inscription reads "Rosalind Franklin, 1920-1958, pioneer of the study of molecular structures including DNA, lived here, 1951-1958".[155]
  • 1993, King's College London renamed the Orchard Residence at their Hampstead Campus on Kidderpore Avenue as Rosalind Franklin Hall.[156]
  • 1993, King's College London placed a blue plaque on its outside wall bearing the inscription: "R. E. Franklin, R. G. Gosling, A. R. Stokes, M. H. F. Wilkins, H. R. Wilson King's/College London/DNA, X-ray, diffraction studies 1953."[157]
  • 1995, Newnham College opened a graduate residence named Rosalind Franklin Building[158] and put a bust of her in its garden.[159][160]
  • 1997, Birkbeck, University of London School of Crystallography opened the Rosalind Franklin Laboratory.[161]
  • 1997, the asteroid discovered in 1997 was named 9241 Rosfranklin.
  • 1998, National Portrait Gallery in London added Rosalind Franklin's portrait next to those of Francis Crick, James Watson and Maurice Wilkins.[162]
  • 1999, the Institute of Physics at Portland Place, London, renamed its theatre as Franklin Lecture Theatre.[163]
  • 2000, King's College London opened the Franklin–Wilkins Building in honour of Dr. Franklin's and Professor Wilkins's work at the college.[164] King's had earlier, in 1994, also named one of the Halls in Hampstead Campus residences in memory of Rosalind Franklin.
  • 2001, the American National Cancer Institute established the Rosalind E. Franklin Award for Women in Science.[165]
  • 2003, the Royal Society established the Rosalind Franklin Award, for an outstanding contribution to any area of natural science, engineering or technology.[166]
  • 2003, the Royal Society of Chemistry declared King's College London as "National Historic Chemical Landmark" and placed a plague on the wall near the entrance of the building, with an epitaph: "Near this site Rosalind Franklin, Maurice Wilkins, Raymond Gosling, Alexander Stokes and Herbert Wilson performed experiments that led to the discovery of the structure of DNA. This work revolutionised our understanding of the chemistry behind life itself."[167]
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science at Illinois
  • 2004, Finch University of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School, located in North Chicago, Illinois, USA changed its name to the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.[168]
  • 2005, the wording on the DNA sculpture (which was donated by James Watson) outside Clare College, Cambridge's Memorial Court is a) on the base: i) "These strands unravel during cell reproduction. Genes are encoded in the sequence of bases." and ii) "The double helix model was supported by the work of Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins.", as well as b) on the helices: i) "The structure of DNA was discovered in 1953 by Francis Crick and James Watson while Watson lived here at Clare." and ii) "The molecule of DNA has two helical strands that are linked by base pairs Adenine – Thymine or Guanine – Cytosine."[169]
  • 2006, the Rosalind Franklin Society was established in New York,[170] which aims to recognise, foster, and advance the important contributions of women in the life sciences and affiliated disciplines.[171]
  • 2007, the University of Groningen, supported by the European Union, launched the Rosalind Franklin Fellowship to encourage women researchers to become full university professors.[172][173]
  • 2008, Columbia University awarded an Honorary Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize to Rosalind Franklin, Ph.D., posthumously, "for her seminal contributions to the discovery of the structure of DNA".[174]
  • 2012, honoured as the namesake of Rosalind, an online project teaching programming via molecular biology.
  • 2012, The Right Honourable Professor The Lord Robert Winston opens the Nottingham Trent University multi-million pound research building the Rosalind Franklin Building.[175]
  • 2013, Google honoured Rosalind Franklin with a doodle showing her gazing at a double helix structure of DNA with an X-ray of Photo 51 beyond it.[176][177]
  • 7 March 2013, a plaque was placed on the wall of The Eagle, a pub near Cambridge University where Crick and Watson announced the discovery of the structure of DNA sixty years to the day.[178][179]
  • 2014, BIO Rosalind Franklin Award was established by Biotechnology Industry Organization in collaboration with the Rosalind Franklin Society, for an outstanding woman in the field of industrial biotechnology and bioprocessing.[180]

Publications

Rosalind Franklin produced a number of publications, some cited a number of times. A representative sample is listed below. The last two publications in this list were published posthumously.

Footnotes

  1. ^ "The Rosalind Franklin Papers, Biographical Information". profiles.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d e "The Rosalind Franklin Papers, The Holes in Coal: Research at BCURA and in Paris, 1942–1951". profiles.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  3. ^ a b Zallen, Doris T. (2003). "Despite Franklin's work, Wilkins earned his Nobel". Nature. 425 (6953): 15. Bibcode:2003Natur.425...15Z. doi:10.1038/425015b. PMID 12955113. (Crick's 31 December 1961 letter to Jacques Monod) However, the data which really helped us to obtain the structure was mainly obtained by Rosalind Franklin
  4. ^ a b Watson JD, Crick FH (1953). "A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid" (PDF). Nature. 171 (4356): 737–738. Bibcode:953Natur.171..737W. doi:10.1038/171737a0. PMID 13054692This article was immediately followed by the two King's submissions: M.H.F. Wilkins, A.R. Stokes, and H.R. Wilson. Molecular Structure of Deoxypentose Nucleic Acids, pp 738–740; then by: Rosalind E. Franklin and R.G. Gosling. Molecular configuration of Sodium Thymonucleate, pp 740–741. {{cite journal}}: Check |bibcode= length (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  5. ^ a b [1] Rosalind Franklin's Legacy, Interview of Lynn Osman Elkin conducted on 26 March 2003
  6. ^ In Pursuit of the Gene. From Darwin to DNA — By James Schwartz. Harvard University Press, 2008
  7. ^ "''Double Helix: 50 Years of DNA.'' Nature archives". Nature Publishing Group. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  8. ^ a b "The Discovery of the Molecular Structure of DNA - The Double Helix". Official Website of the Nobel Prizes. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  9. ^ a b c "James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, and Rosalind Franklin". Chemical Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  10. ^ "Name of Firm: A. Kyeser & Co" (PDF). The Gazette. 22 February 1922. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  11. ^ "Rosalind Franklin". London Remembers. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  12. ^ GRO Register of Births: SEP 1920 1a 250 KENSINGTON – Rosalind E. Franklin, mmn = Waley
  13. ^ a b Maddox, Brenda (2002). Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-018407-8.
  14. ^ Maddox p. 7
  15. ^ Segev p.
  16. ^ Sayre, A. (1975). Rosalind Franklin and DNA. New York: Norton. p. 31. ISBN 0393074935.
  17. ^ a b Maddox p. 40
  18. ^ "This flat declaration prompted Ellis Franklin to accuse his strong-willed daughter of making science her religion. He was right. Rosalind sent him a four-page declaration, eloquent for a young woman just over 20, let alone a scientist of any age. ..."It has just occurred to me that you may raise the question of a creator. A creator of what? […] I see no reason to believe that a creator of protoplasm or primeval matter, if such there be, has any reason to be interested in our insignificant race in a tiny corner of the universe, and still less in us, as still more insignificant individuals. Again, I see no reason why the belief that we are insignificant or fortuitous should lessen our faith – as I have defined it."" Brenda Maddox, Mother of DNA, NewHumanist.org.uk – Volume 117 Issue 3 Autumn 2002.
  19. ^ Listed as an agnostic on NNDB.com. Rosalind Franklin, NNDB.com.
  20. ^ Maddox p. 25
  21. ^ Sayre p. 41
  22. ^ Maddox p. 30
  23. ^ Maddox, p. 26
  24. ^ Maddox, p. 20
  25. ^ Sayre, p. 35
  26. ^ R.N. Dixon, D.M. Agar and R.E. Burge, William Charles Price. 1 April 1909 – 10 March 1993, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, vol. 43, page 438, line 17, 1997.
  27. ^ Fact sheet: Women at Cambridge: A Chronology, [2][dead link].
  28. ^ Rosalind Franklin, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's Dolan DNA Learning Center, ID 1649, [3].
  29. ^ "The Rosalind Franklin Papers: The Holes in Coal: Research at BCURA and in Paris, 1942–1951". Profiles.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  30. ^ "Rosalind Franklin". Timetoast. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  31. ^ "Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958)". DNA Learning Center, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  32. ^ D. W. van Krevelen, Coal, Third Edition: Typology – Physics – Chemistry – Constitution, Elsevier, New York, 1993.
  33. ^ Chemistry and Physics of Carbon, vol 1–, 1968–, Elsevier, New York.
  34. ^ G. Terriere, A. Oberlin, J. Mering, Oxidation of graphite in liquid medium -- observations by means of microscopy and electron diffraction, Carbon, 5, 431--, 1967.
  35. ^ Maddox, p. 124
  36. ^ Maddox, p. 114
  37. ^ Wilkins, Wilkins, M., The Third Man of the Double Helix, an autobiography (2003) Oxford University Press, Oxford. pp. 143–144
  38. ^ The Dark Lady Of DNA by Branda Maddox
  39. ^ Wilkins, p. 121
  40. ^ Maddox, pp. 149–150, Elkin, p 45. Elkin, L.O. Rosalind Franklin and the Double Helix. Physics Today, March 2003(available free on-line, see references). Olby, R. The Path to the Double Helix (London: MacMillan, 1974).
  41. ^ Sayre, Olby, Maddox, Elkin, Wilkins
  42. ^ Maddox, p. 129
  43. ^ Elkin, p. 43
  44. ^ Wilkins p. 155
  45. ^ Elkin p. 45
  46. ^ a b Maddox, p. 153
  47. ^ Wilkins, p. 154
  48. ^ Maddox p 155
  49. ^ a b Wilkins, p. 158
  50. ^ Maddox, p. 155
  51. ^ a b Wilkins, p. 176
  52. ^ Wilkins, p. 182
  53. ^ Maddox, p. 168
  54. ^ Maddox, p. 169
  55. ^ Wilkins, pp. 232–233
  56. ^ Franklin, R.E. and Gosling, R.G. authors of papers received 6 March 1953 Acta Cryst. (1953). 6, 673 The Structure of Sodium Thymonucleate Fibres I. The Influence of Water Content Acta Cryst. (1953). 6, 678 The Structure of Sodium Thymonucleate Fibres II. The Cylindrically Symmetrical Patterson Function
  57. ^ Maddox p 205
  58. ^ Acta Cryst. (1953). 6, 673 The Structure of Sodium Thymonucleate Fibres I. The Influence of Water Content
  59. ^ Klug, A. "Rosalind Franklin and the Double Helix", Nature 248 (26 April 1974): 787–788
  60. ^ Klug, A. Rosalind Franklin and the Discovery of the Structure of DNA, Nature 219 (24 August 1968): 808–810 & 843.
  61. ^ Yockey, pp. 9–10
  62. ^ Crick's 31 December 1961 letter to Jacque Monod cited above
  63. ^ Maddox, p. 147
  64. ^ Maddox, p. 161
  65. ^ Hubbard, Ruth (1990). The Politics of Women's Biology. Rutgers State University. p. 60. ISBN 0-8135-1490-8.
  66. ^ "The Double Helix" p. 115
  67. ^ "The Double Helix" p. 60
  68. ^ "All hands to the pump" letter is preserved in the Crick archives at the University of California, San Diego, and was posted as part of their Web collection. It is also quoted by both Maddox, p 204, and Olby.
  69. ^ Maddox p. 207
  70. ^ In contrast to his other letters to Crick, Wilkins dated this one.
  71. ^ "Old rogues" letter is preserved in the Crick archives at the University of California at San Diego, and was posted as part of their Web collection. It is also quoted by both Maddox, p. 208 and Olby.
  72. ^ Franklin and Gosling (1953)
  73. ^ Maddox, p. 210
  74. ^ 10 April 1953 Franklin post card to Crick asking permission to view model. The original is in the Crick archives at the University of California, San Diego.
  75. ^ Holt, J. (2002)
  76. ^ Rich, Alexander (2003). "The double helix: a tale of two puckers". Nature Structural Biology. 10 (4): 247–249. doi:10.1038/nsb0403-247. PMID 12660721.
  77. ^ Scher, Stanley (2004). "Was Watson and Crick's model truly self-evident?". Nature. 427 (6975): 584–584. doi:10.1038/427584c. PMID 14961092.
  78. ^ Arnott, Struther (2006). "Historical article: DNA polymorphism and the early history of the double helix". Trends in Biochemical Sciences. 31 (6): 349–354. doi:10.1016/j.tibs.2006.04.004. PMID 16678428.
  79. ^ a b Maddox, p. 205
  80. ^ Maddox, p. 229
  81. ^ Maddox, p. 235
  82. ^ Franklin, RE; Gosling, RG (1953). "Evidence for 2-chain helix in crystalline structure of sodium deoxyribonucleate". Nature. 172 (4369): 156–157. doi:10.1038/172156a0. PMID 13072614.
  83. ^ Franklin, RE. (1955). "Structure of Tobacco Mosaic Virus". Nature. 175 (4452): 379–381. doi:10.1038/175379a0. PMID 14356181.
  84. ^ Maddox, p. 252
  85. ^ Franklin and Holmes, 1956
  86. ^ Maddox, p. 254
  87. ^ Franklin, Rosalind E.; Klug, A. (1956). "The nature of the helical groove on the tobacco mosaic virus particle X-ray diffraction studies". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. 19: 403–416. doi:10.1016/0006-3002(56)90463-2. PMID 13315300.
  88. ^ Franklin et al., 1958
  89. ^ Maddox, p. 256
  90. ^ Maddox, p. 262
  91. ^ Franklin, RE (1956). "Structure of Tobacco Mosaic Virus: Location of the Ribonucleic Acid in the Tobacco Mosaic Virus Particle". Nature. 177 (4516): 928–930. doi:10.1038/177928b0.
  92. ^ Casper, D. L. D. (1956). "Structure of Tobacco Mosaic Virus: Radial Density Distribution in the Tobacco Mosaic Virus Particle". Nature. 177 (4516): 928–928. doi:10.1038/177928a0.
  93. ^ Maddox, p. 284
  94. ^ Maddox, p. 285
  95. ^ Maddox, p. 288
  96. ^ Maddox, p. 292
  97. ^ Maddox, p. 296
  98. ^ Maddox, p. 301
  99. ^ Maddox, p. 302
  100. ^ GRO Register of Deaths: JUN 1958 5c 257 CHELSEA – Rosalind E. Franklin, aged 37
  101. ^ Maddox, pp. 305–307
  102. ^ "Defending Franklin's Legacy". Secret of Photo 51. NOVA. Retrieved 10 November 2010.Along with genetic predisposition; opinion of CSU's Lynne Osman Elkin; see also March 2003 Physics Today
  103. ^ Maddox, p.320
  104. ^ Murray, Ruby J (2011). "Historical Profile: Rosalind Franklin". Dumbo Feather. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  105. ^ "Rosalind Elsie Franklin". Find A Grave. 19 October 2001. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  106. ^ "Rosalind Franklin tomb". Himetop. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  107. ^ Friedman, Meyer; Friedland, Gerald W. Medicine'S 10 Greatest Discoveries. Universities Press. p. 227. ISBN 9788173712265.
  108. ^ Andrzej Stasiak, Rosalind Franklin, EMBO reports 2, 3, 181 (2001) doi:10.1093/embo-reports/kve037 [4]
  109. ^ Hussain, Farooq (20 November 1975). Did Rosalind Franklin deserve DNA Nobel prize?. Vol. 68. Reed Business Information. p. 470. Retrieved 10 January 2011. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
  110. ^ Sayre, p.97
  111. ^ Bryson, B. (2004) p. 490
  112. ^ Elkin, p.45
  113. ^ Harding, Sandra (2006). "Sexist criticism of Watson's memoir". Science and Social Inequality: Feminist and Postcolonial Issues. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-252-07304-5. Retrieved 10 January 2011. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  114. ^ Wertheimer, Michael; Clamar, Aphrodite; Siderits, Mary Anne (2007). "The Case of the Purloined Picture: Rosalind Franklin and the Keystone of the Double Helix". In Gavin, Eileen A.; Clamar, Aphrodite; Siderits, Mary Anne (eds.). Women of Vision: Their Psychology, Circumstances, and Successes. New York: Springer Science+Business Media. ISBN 978-0-8261-0253-9. Retrieved 10 January 2011  Rosalind's letter quoted {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= and |postscript= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  115. ^ Maddox, pp. 177–178
  116. ^ Maddox, p. 196
  117. ^ Crick, (1988) p. 67.
  118. ^ Elkin, L.O. (2003)p 44
  119. ^ Maddox, pp. 198–199
  120. ^ Maddox, pp. 196
  121. ^ Wilkins, p. 198
  122. ^ Maddox p.312,
  123. ^ Wilkins, p. 257
  124. ^ Maddox p.188
  125. ^ Perutz's papers are in the Archive of the J. Craig Venter institute and Science Foundation in Rockville Maryland, which were purchased as part of the Jeremy Norman Archive of Molecular Biology; quoted in Ferry, Georgina, 2007. Max Perutz and the Secret of Life. Published in the UK by Chatto & Windus (ISBN 0-701-17695-4), and in the USA by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
  126. ^ Science, 27 June 1969, pp. 207–212, also reprinted in the Norton critical edition of The Double Helix, edited by Gunther Stent.
  127. ^ Maddox, p. 199
  128. ^ Watson (1969).
  129. ^ Maddox, p. 316
  130. ^ Wilkins, p. 213
  131. ^ Wilkins, p. 214
  132. ^ Wilkins, p. 226
  133. ^ Maddox, p. 207
  134. ^ Maddox, pp316–317, and other parts of the epilogue
  135. ^ Watson, J.D. (1968) pp. 95–96
  136. ^ Sayre,A. (1975) pp. 156–167
  137. ^ Watson JD, Crick FH (April 1953). "Molecular structure of nucleic acids; a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid" (PDF). Nature. 171 (4356): 737–738. Bibcode:1953Natur.171..737W. doi:10.1038/171737a0. PMID 13054692. This article was immediately followed by the two King's submissions: Wilkins MHF, Stokes AR, Wilson HR (April 1953). "Molecular structure of deoxypentose nucleic acids" (PDF). Nature. 171 (4356): 738–740. Bibcode:1953Natur.171..738W. doi:10.1038/171738a0. PMID 13054693.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) then by: Franklin RE, Gosling RG (April 1953). "Molecular configuration in sodium thymonucleate" (PDF). Nature. 171 (4356): 740–741. Bibcode:1953Natur.171..740F. doi:10.1038/171740a0. PMID 13054694.
  138. ^ Franklin, Rosalind E.; Gosling, R. G. (25 April 1953). "Molecular Configuration in Sodium Thymonucleate" (PDF). Nature. 171 (4356): 740–741. Bibcode:1953Natur.171..740F. doi:10.1038/171740a0. PMID 13054694.
  139. ^ "Review of ''False Assumptions''". Productionottawa.com. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  140. ^ "The Discovery of the Molecular Structure of DNA – The Double Helix". Nobelprize.org. 30 September 2003. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  141. ^ Washington, Harriet A. (31 December 2012). "Don't Forget Rosalind Franklin". Ms.
  142. ^ Gann, Alexander; Witkowski, Jan A. (2013). "DNA: Archives reveal Nobel nominations". Nature. 496 (7446): 434. doi:10.1038/496434a. PMID 23619686.
  143. ^ Meselson, Matthew; Stahl, Franklin W. (1958). "The replication of DNA in Escherichia coli". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 44 (7): 671–682. doi:10.1073/pnas.44.7.671. PMC 528642. PMID 16590258.
  144. ^ Nakada, D; Ryan, FJ (1961). "Replication of deoxyribonucleic acid in non-dividing bacteria". Nature. 189: 398–399. doi:10.1038/189398a0. PMID 13727575.
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  161. ^ Sir Aaron Klug opens new Laboratory
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  163. ^ "Dielectrophoresis 2014 Venue and accommodation". Dielectrophoresis 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
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  165. ^ "seventh annual Rosalind E. Franklin Award for Women in Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute's Intramural Scientific Retreat [which] honors the commitment of women in cancer research and is given in tribute to chemist Rosalind Franklin, who played a critical role in the discovery of the DNA double helix." The JHU Gazette, Johns Hopkins University, 17 March 2008 For the Record: Cheers
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References

  • Bryson, B. A Short History of Nearly Everything. (2004). Black Swan ISBN 0-552-99704-8.
  • Crick, F.; Watson, J. (1953), "Molecular structure of nucleic acids" (PDF), Nature, 171 (4356): 737–738, Bibcode:1953Natur.171..737W, doi:10.1038/171737a0, PMID 13054692.
  • Crick, F. H. C. What Mad Pursuit, (1988). Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-09137-7.
  • Elkin, L., O. Rosalind Franklin and the Double Helix Physics Today March 2003, pp. 42–48.
  • Franklin RE (January 1950), "Influence of the bonding electrons on the scattering of X-rays by carbon", Nature, 165 (4185): 71, Bibcode:1950Natur.165...71F, doi:10.1038/165071a0, PMID 15403103.
  • Ferry, Georgina, 2007. Max Perutz and the Secret of Life. Published in the UK by Chatto & Windus (ISBN 0-701-17695-4), and in the USA by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
  • Franklin, R.E. and Gosling, R.G. (25 April 1953), "Molecular Configuration in Sodium Thymonucleate" (PDF), Nature, 171 (4356): 740–741, Bibcode:1953Natur.171..740F, doi:10.1038/171740a0, PMID 13054694, retrieved 15 January 2011  Reprint also available at Resonance Classics {{citation}}: External link in |postscript= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  • Franklin, R.E. and Gosling, R.G. authors of papers received 6 March 1953: Acta Cryst. (1953). 6, 673 The Structure of Sodium Thymonucleate Fibres I. The Influence of Water Content II. The Cylindrically Symmetrical Patterson Function
  • Franklin, R.E. (1955), "Structure of tobacco mosaic virus", Nature, 175 (4452): 379–381, Bibcode:1955Natur.175..379F, doi:10.1038/175379a0, PMID 14356181
  • Franklin, R.E. (1956), "Structure of Tobacco Mosaic Virus: Location of the Ribonucleic Acid in the Tobacco Mosaic Virus Particle", Nature, 177 (4516): 928–30, Bibcode:1956Natur.177..928F, doi:10.1038/177928b0.
  • Holt, J. (2002) "Photo Finish: Rosalind Franklin and the great DNA race" The New Yorker October
  • Judson, Horace Freeland, "The Eighth Day of Creation:Makers of the Revolution in Biology" ( London: Jonathan Cape,1979),Penguin,1995;expanded edition;New York:Cold Spring Harbor Press,1996).
  • Maddox, B. Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA (2002). Harper Collins ISBN 0-00-655211-0.
  • Nobel Prize (1962). The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962, for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material, Nobelprize.org
  • Olby, R., "The Path to the Double Helix"(London:Macmillan,1974)
  • Sayre, A. 1975. Rosalind Franklin and DNA. New York: W.W. Norton and Company. ISBN 0-393-32044-8.
  • Segev, T. One Palestine, Complete, (2000) (ISBN 0-349-11286-X) Abacus History.
  • Stent, Gunther, editor. "Critical Edition of The Double Helix"(1980) W.W. Norton Co, New York and London. ISBN 0-393-95075-1.
  • Watson, J. Letter to Science, 164, p. 1539, 27 (1969).
  • Wilkins, M., The Third Man of the Double Helix, an autobiography (2003) Oxford University Press, Oxford. ISBN 0-19-280667-X.
  • Yockey, H. P. Information Theory, Evolution, and the Origin of Life (2005).

Further reading

  • Brown, Andrew (2007). J.D. Bernal: The Sage of Science. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-920565-5.
  • Chomet, Seweryn [Ed.] (1995). D.N.A. : Genesis of a Aiscovery. England: Newman-Hemisphere. ISBN 978-1-56700-138-9.
  • Crick, Francis (1988). What Mad Pursuit : A Personal View of Scientific Discovery. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-09138-5.
  • Dickerson, Richard E. (2005). Present at the Flood : How Structural Molecular Biology Came about. Sunderland: Sinauer. ISBN 0-87893-168-6.
  • Finch, John (2008). A Nobel Fellow on Every Floor : A History of the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Cambridge: Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology. ISBN 978-1-84046-940-0.
  • Gibbons, Michelle G. "Reassessing Discovery: Rosalind Franklin, Scientific Visualization, and the Structure of DNA." Philosophy of Science 79 (2012): 63-80.
  • Hager, Thomas (1995). Force of Nature : The Life of Linus Pauling. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-80909-5.
  • Horace, Freeland Judson (1996) [1977]. The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology (Expanded ed.). Plainview, N.Y: CSHL Press. ISBN 0-87969-478-5.
  • Glynn, Jenifer (2012). My Sister Rosalind Franklin. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-969962-9.
  • Glynn, Jenifer (1996). "Rosalind Franklin, 1920-1958". In Shils, Edward (ed.). Cambridge Women : Twelve Portraits. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 267–282. ISBN 0-521-48287-9.
  • Klug, Aaron (2004). "R.E. Franklin". In Matthew, H.C.G.; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography : From the Earliest Times to the Year 2000. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-861411-X.
  • Klug, Aaron (2004). "The discovery of the DNA Double Helix". In Krude, Torsten (ed.). DNA : Changing Science and Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 5–27. ISBN 0-52182-378-1.
  • Olby, Robert (1974). "Rosalind Elsie Franklin". In Gillispie, Charles Coulston (ed.). Dictionary of Scientific Biography. V.10. New York: Scribner. ISBN 0-684-10121-1.
  • Olby, Robert (1994). The Path to The Double Helix : The Discovery of DNA (Unabridged, corrected and enlarged Dover edition ed.). New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-68117-3. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
  • Olby R (January 2003). "Quiet debut for the double helix". Nature. 421 (6921): 402–405. Bibcode:2003Natur.421..402O. doi:10.1038/nature01397. PMID 12540907.
  • Tait, Sylvia A.S.; Tait, James F. (2004). A Quartet of Unlikely Discoveries. London: Athena Press. ISBN 978-1-8440-1343-2.
  • Watson, James D. (1980), The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA, Norton, ISBN 0-393-01245-X
  • Wilkins, Maurice (2005). The Third Man of the Double Helix : The Autobiography of Maurice Wilkins. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280667-3.
  • Polcovar, Jane (2006). Rosalind Franklin and the Structure of Life. Greensboro, N.C.: Morgan Reynolds Publishing Inc. ISBN 978-1-59935-022-6.

External links

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