Today women are at the forefront of scientific and technological developments, however, this has not always been the case. Throughout history, women in STEM have been severely underrepresented – their contributions overlooked, their theories mocked, and their credits denied. Some of the greatest discoveries made in the field of science today, stand on the contributions of women scientists who have been conveniently ignored and written out of textbooks.
Imagine being a dedicated woman in STEM in the 1940s, already having your work cut for you by having to constantly prove your worth every step of the way, and excelling despite it all—only to lose your life’s work to a few incompetent men.
And imagine the rage of my 16-year old self when she heard about Rosalind Franklin for the first time in her biology class.
This is the story of Rosalind Franklin—the unsung heroine of modern genetics.
life
Rosalind Franklin was a British scientist best known for her contributions to the discovery of the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), a constituent of chromosomes that serves to encode genetic information. Franklin also contributed new insight on the structure of viruses, and helped to lay the foundation of structural virology.
As written on her tombstone, her discoveries on viruses “remain of lasting benefit to mankind”.
Born in 1920 into a wealthy and influential British-Jewish family, she studied at some of the most prestigious institutions in the country including Cambridge University.
Besides studying coal and carbon, she was an expert on viruses affecting both humans and plants, including tobacco mosaic virus and poliovirus. Her work in DNA sequencing eventually helped modern medical science in tracing deadly viruses including the one that caused the recent Covid pandemic.
As written on her tombstone, her discoveries on viruses “remain of lasting benefit to mankind”.
Her best-known work, though, remains the imaging of DNA through X-ray diffraction.
career
Science, like many other domains, was a male-dominated field in the 20th century, which led to Franklin facing sexism, sidelining and gender bias.
In the backdrop of an unconventional family, which cultivated her curiosity and inquisitive spirit, Rosalind grew up with a love for arguments, not accepting anything without proof—a classic scientific trait. Her sister describes her as being honest with a tremendous sense of justice. After finishing her degree, Franklin worked for one year as a research fellowship under Ronald Norrish of Cambridge University. However, she found Norrish overbearing and difficult to work with. Rosalind wrote that Norrish “ became most offensive” when “I stood up to him.” She then resigned from his lab to work with the British Coal Utilization Research Association. Norrish told a Franklin biographer years later that he did not approve of the junior investigator’s interest in “ raising the status of her sex to equality with men.”
Franklin enjoyed spirited discussions about science and politics. Friends and close colleagues considered Franklin a brilliant scientist and a kind hearted woman while fellow scientists believed her to be short-tempered and stubborn and a challenge to work with. (A discourse, I am pretty sure every woman is familiar with and tired of.)
Among them was Maurice Wilkins, the man she was to work with at King’s College, who eventually went on to steal her work.
A misunderstanding resulted in disagreements between Wilkins and Franklin, and their clashing personalities served to deepen the divide. The two were supposed to work together on the structure of DNA, but their conflicts led them to working in relative isolation. While this suited Franklin, Wilkins went looking for company at “the Cavendish” laboratory in Cambridge where his friend Francis Crick was working with James Watson on building a model of the DNA molecule. What Franklin achieved working alone in her laboratory was exceptional, to say the least. However, unknown to Franklin, Watson and Crick saw some of her unpublished data, including the remarkable “Photograph 51,” shown to Watson by Wilkins. This X-ray diffraction image of a DNA molecule was Watson’s inspiration (the pattern was clearly a helix). Using Franklin’s photograph and their own data, Watson and Crick came up with their famous DNA model. Franklin’s contribution was not acknowledged, but after her death Crick said that her contribution had been critical.
DNA: The Enigma Code of Life
Through X-ray diffraction imaging, Rosalind obtained the famous “ Photograph 51” that later went on to become the most crucial puzzle piece in the mystery behind the elusive structure of DNA.
The structure, as simple and elegant as it is profound, shows that two long strands of DNA run in opposite directions and spiral around one another in the shape of a double helix. Another vital element in the structure is that four organic bases – known as adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine – are paired in a specific manner between the two helices in such a way as to provide a natural scaffold for the two strands.
NOBEL PRIZE
Watson, Crick and Wilkins went on to receive the nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for the transfer of genetic information in living beings.
The 1962 prize remains controversial, not just because three men won it while their female counterpart was left out but also because the men relied on crucial information that they took from Franklin without her knowledge or consent. Franklin provided essential quantitative data about the structure in a report she shared with a colleague, who shared it with Watson and Crick. Later analysis of her laboratory notebooks showed not only that she had deduced the double-helix structure but also that she recognized that a structure based on complementary strands could explain how the molecule carried large amounts of genetic information because “an infinite variety of nucleotide sequences would be possible.”
Nobel rules state that prizes can not be awarded posthumously, but many people believe that even if Franklin had lived, the Nobel Assembly would have passed her over, just as it had all but three women before her: physicist Marie Curie for her role in explaining radioactivity and for isolating radium; radiochemist Irène Joliot-Curie for discovering induced radioactivity; and biochemist Gerty Cori, who demonstrated how cells convert sugar into energy. Moreover, the award citation for the DNA work barely mentioned Franklin’s role. (Wilkins was not an author on the key 1953 DNA paper, either, yet he was included in the Nobel Prize.)
DEATH & LEGACY
Rosalind’s life and scientific journey were tragically cut short at the age of 37 when she died of ovarian cancer in 1958.
Even today, most textbooks credit Watson and Crick for the discovery of the double helical model of DNA. The double helical DNA model is popularly known as the Watson and Crick Model in modern medicine.
Today almost 70 years after her death, not much has changed, with sexism still rampant in most fields of science. However, Rosalind’s story inspires scientists worldwide to always take credit for and pride in their achievements.
And with that, her legacy lives on.
Rest in power, Rosalind.
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