The discovery of the structure of DNA is known as one of the greatest discoveries in human history. It changed our perspective on human life forever, nevertheless one part of this magnificent story was left untold.
There is a common belief that the discovery of the double helix is credited, namely, to American molecular biologist James Watson and British biophysicist Francis Crick. However, it was actually Rosalind Franklin’s famous Photo 51 that inspired Watson and Crick to pursue the discovery of the structure of DNA. The famous photography was the first x-ray image of DNA and it took Franklin about 100 hours to produce it. Since the academic society was not very fond of women in science at that time, her scientific contributions have been vastly underplayed.
In our Splice Summer Edition, we are featuring the video “Rosalind Franklin: DNA’s unsung hero” where Cláudio L. Guerra shares the true story of the woman behind the helix. Enjoy!
Blazka Orel, MSc, BioSistemika LLC
Featured image credit: http://www.yourgenome.org/stories/giants-in-genomics-rosalind-franklin
I am absolutely gutted about the real reason of who discovered DNA, we should NOT thank James Watson and Francis Crick because …… Well what did they do. The only thing they did was steal a hard working persons work and it isn’t right. From my perspective I strongly agree that they do not deserve the glory ( that Rosalind Franklin deserved ) and DEFINITELY DO NOT DESERVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE!!!
Today I will tell most of you people who believed that James Watson and Francis Crick were the ones to be rewarded ….. were wrong. We are to late now…. Rosalind Franklin died and we all will never forget her!!!