The Women Who Shaped Today's Science: Rosalind Franklin

March 8, 2023

Ashlyn Tsang, Maya Puterman, Noa Essner

10th Grade

Rosalind Franklin is best known for her contributions made towards the uncovering of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and its molecular structure. DNA is the portion of a cell that stores genetic information. It is responsible for the development of an organism. Other contributions made by Franklin include observing and discovering new insights into the structure of viruses, which helped in creating the foundation in the field of structural virology. Franklin was born on July 25, 1920. 

As a child, she enjoyed reading novels, drawing, and photography. While attending St. Paul’s Girls’ School, Franklin excelled at science and Latin. Although it was not encouraged at the time for girls to be interested in these subjects, especially science, Franklin had the mind and attitude for it. She then went on to study physical chemistry at the University of Cambridge. Franklin graduated in 1941 and received a fellowship to direct research in physical chemistry at Cambridge. 

Unfortunately, the progress of World War I had interfered with these plans. Franklin had served as a London air raid warden and gave up on her fellowship to work alongside with the British Coal Utilization Research Association. It was during this time that she observed the physical chemistry of coal and carbon for the war. As a result, she was able to use her research for her doctoral thesis. Franklin then received her doctorate from Cambridge in 1945. 

From 1947-1950, she worked at the State Chemical Laboratory in Paris alongside Jacques Méring. They studied X-ray diffraction technology which resulted in her research on structural changes due to the formation of graphite present in heated carbons. In 1951, Franklin joined the Biophysical laboratory at King’s College as a research colleague. During that time, she conducted her X-ray diffraction methods for the study of DNA. When her research began at King’s College, hardly anything was known about the structure of DNA. However, with more observation, she discovered that the molecule appeared in a helical conformation. Her work provided a foundation for James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953, suggesting that the structure of DNA is in the shape of a double helix. 

From 1953-1958, Franklin worked in the Crystallography Laboratory at Birkbeck College, London. She worked on research showing that the ribonucleic acid (RNA) in the molecular structure of the tobacco mosaic virus was implanted in its protein instead of its central cavity and that RNA was single-stranded instead of the double-helix DNA. In 1958, Rosalind Franklin passed away from cancer. From her discovery of the double-helix DNA, scientists were able to answer the question of how life is passed down between generations. Without Franklin’s discovery, innovations such as gene therapy would not exist.