The Dark Lady of DNA: Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Franklin with microscope in 1955

How can we study how our ancestors and ancient civilizations developed over time? How are we able to read and understand their genetic makeup and apply these findings to modern science and biology? How do we even know what DNA looks like? This is a little bit about the first chemist to discover the physical structure of DNA and shaped how we view this molecule crucial to understanding life, Rosalind Franklin.

The understanding we have today of the structure of DNA was first discovered by an English woman and molecular scientist Rosalind Franklin. In 1952 Franklin took the first photo that revealed the physical evidence that DNA formed as a double helix. This photo- which is referred to as Photo 51- is what led to many other scientific discoveries by providing the foundation of molecular structure in biology. Franklin’s work effectively changed the scientific crossroads where chemistry, physics, and biology meet.

Understanding DNA’s structure reshaped not only modern sciences but also the ways we study the past of humanity and our living world. It provided science with a basis that could help us study the future and the past. Anthropologists gained a tool that explained the depths of genetics, which allowed them to trace human origins and population histories. It is a discovery that makes her one of the most important scientists in history through finally revealing DNA’s physical structure.

Although Franklin’s work proved to be major to the collective of science, her work is often overshadowed or even miscredited through controversies regarding her peers and assistant’s contributions in the discovery and the publishing of DNA’s structure. The academic scene at the time was also still heavily prejudiced against women in science, Franklin being one of the seven women in Kings College London’s biophysics department at the time.

Rosalind Franklin grew up in a Jewish family in London where she showed a strong academic rigor from a young age. By the time she finished her study at age 16 from St. Pauls Girls’ School- a school which allowed and encouraged girls to study science- she decided to become a scientist. This was uncommon and socially unsuitable for women at the time. However, most of Franklin’s family supported her in her career and were proud of her academic accomplishments.

She was accepted and offered scholarship to Cambridge and completed the Part II Chemistry Tripos in 1941 while WWII was happening. The influence of WWII turned her to take up work researching coal. Her work studied how coal behaves for wartime gas‑mask technology and fuel efficiency. These studies she published on coal as her thesis later proved her skills in studying the mineral microstructure using diffraction, which led to her taking a research fellowship in Paris under crystallographer Jacques Mering. Mering would go on to teach her X‑ray crystallography, the technique that later made her famous for her discoveries.

Franklin returned to Britain in 1947 after her research in Paris, accepting a research fellowship at King’s College London. This is where she was assigned to lead the study of the structure of DNA using X‑ray diffraction- the technique she surpassed students in London with given her prior experience during her years in France. Her arrival at King’s College however, was met with some difficult relationships with her new peers, professors, and colleagues. Her role in the DNA project that turned out photo 51 was unclearly presented to the team of students she was assigned to work with and resulted in some turbulent teamwork. Maurice Wilkins, one of the senior scientists working on DNA at King’s College struggled to adjust to her equal standing in the project as he assumed she would be working as his assistant and not co-researcher.

By 1952 Rosalind Franklin had produced Photo 51, which was the clearest X‑ray diffraction image of DNA ever taken. Through her work in discovering the method to take a clear photo of the molecule Franklin had identified two configurations DNA existed in, which she called the A and B forms. The photograph revealed the pattern of a helix detailed enough to finally understand the molecular structure. Two of Franklin’s peers, James Watson and Francis Crick had been experimenting with the DNA data available in order to create an accurate model on their own. Amongst other researcher’s work at the time such as Linus Pauling’s, Watson and Crick could not successfully model the correct structure of DNA. Franklin dismissed the unproven theories and refused to publish her unfinished work. Watson and Crick took over Franklin's research on DNA as she transferred to Birbeck, including the photo 51, to publish the final results of the model which turned out to be a double-helix structure.

As the double‑helix model was published in 1953, Franklin had already moved to Birkbeck College, where she pursued new research in viruses using the same techniques in diffraction. She successfully made advances in understanding the structure of RNA viruses. Her work there helped to establish structural virology as a field in science. Although the scientific environment around her was competitive and dismissive of women’s contributions, Franklin’s work became some of the century’s greatest scientific discoveries.

Franklin’s contributions eventually shaped areas of science that came only long after her death in 1958, including potentially missing a Nobel Prize for her collaboration in the work with Watson, Crick, and Wilkins which they received in 1962. Her discoveries in DNA’s structure made it possible for future researchers to compare genetic relationships among populations, trace human lineages, and recover ancient information with DNA from biological remains. These methods today allow scientists to map migrations and reconstruct the lives of past civilizations. Franklin’s legacy extends past her time, her work has not only influenced modern science and anthropology, but her story should be a testimony of the need to recognize women whose achievements were overlooked.