By Katerina Carrozzi
Did Rosalind Franklin discover the DNA helical structure? Was her work stolen? Did Franklin ever receive full credit for her research discoveries? So many pressing questions that deserve answers. At last, what do the history books say…
Rosalind Franklin was a British chemist best known for her contribution to the discovery of the molecular structure of DNA. Franklin was born into a prominent London banking family, where she was encouraged to pursue her interests and develop her natural talents. Franklin completed her undergraduate degree in the middle of WW2 and then served as a London air raid warden, and contributed to the war effort at the British Coal Utilisation Research Association where she investigated the physical chemistry of carbon and coal. Later, she studied x-ray diffraction technology and joined a biophysical laboratory at King’s College in London as a research fellow. In London she used various x-ray diffraction methods to study DNA, its density and eventually this is how she uncovered key information that was used to discover DNA’s helical conformation.
Maurice Wilkins who also worked at King’s College, was the first to study DNA by x-ray crystallography and then Franklin was appointed to his project. Franklin had experience with the x-ray crystallography technique and had quickly become an authority in the field. Wilkins and Franklin had a poor working relationship which some believe may have slowed their progress on their project. Franklin was forceful and excelled in intellectual debate whereas Wilkins was quiet and hated arguments.
The infamous story of Rosalind Franklin seems to be commonly centered around the lack of credit she received for the discovery of DNA’s molecular structure which at the time, appeared to be exclusively credited to James Watson and Francis Crick. Although these two men made significant contributions to this discovery, it was Franklin’s images and calculations that truly laid the foundation for such great conclusions to be made. Looking back on history, it is important to recount the truth and outline Franklin’s contribution to science and the injustice she faced.
Arguably the most important piece of the puzzle, is the story of Photo 51. The photo that made the light bulb go off for Watson and Crick and contributed to their creation of the famous double-helix model. Photo 51 was taken by Franklin and a PhD student working with her at the time at King’s College named Raymond Gosling. One day in 1953 Watson was visiting King’s College and was being shown around by Wilkins who at the time was supervising Gosling because Franklin was preparing to leave the terrible work environment at King’s. During this visit, Watson was shown the famous photo 51, without consent from Franklin. It should be noted that since Gosling was working under Wilkins at the time and Gosling had helped take the photo, there was a fine line here about whether boundaries were crossed. Ultimately though, Gosling was working under Franklin, so it can be argued that Franklin should have been consented if any work under her was going to be shown off. Despite Watson being mesmerized by the photo, lots of obstacles still stood in his way such as the number of strands, chemical organization of the molecule and more. However, the story does not end here. These unknown pieces of the puzzle that Watson and Crick did not yet have, were also developed by Franklin. She actually unknowingly (once again) provided the crucial numbers (e.g. angels of bonds precise chemical organization) that Watson needed to do his own calculations and crack the code to the final helical structure. These extremely important numbers were unintentionally provided by Franklin in a brief informal report that she had given to Max Perutz of Cambridge University. Perutz had passed this information onto Bragg who was the head of Watson and Crick’s lab at Cambridge. Bragg then passed it onto Watson and this is exactly what opened all the necessary doors for Watson and Crick to make their pivotal findings.
If it is not already apparent, the major issues with this situation are as follows: Franklin’s report was confidential, Watson and Crick acquired it dishonestly as it was not technically supposed to be passed down to them, the two of them also did not tell anyone at King’s what they were doing with the information they had gotten and maybe most importantly, they did not ask Franklin for permission to interpret her data and ultimately use it to make their discovery.
Eventually, the famous DNA model was published as work by Watson and Crick and only the data was published separately by Wilkins and Franklin. Unfortunately, Franklin never found out the extent to which Watson and Crick had undoubtedly relied on her very own work. The fact that Watson and Crick did not decide to credit her on the actual model even though they used her preliminary calculations is mind blowing. Although no one can confirm that sexism was at play, it is a plausible reasoning for this unfair behavior. Watson details in his very own memoir his own appalling attitude towards Franklin who he stated he tended to dismiss and even called her by the wrong name. In this same memoir, Watson recognizes his own failures in respecting her.
Interestingly, it was found later on that while Watson and Crick were hard at work collaboratively making this discovery, Franklin was making incredible progress on her own, in an isolated setting without the benefit of having a partner to bounce ideas off. Her work revealed that she had also discovered the double helical structure, complementary strands, and infinite nucleotide sequences that explain the biological specificity of DNA. She had understood that DNA is a sequence of bases that contain the genetic code, but would have needed to convert her work into a precise model. Unfortunately, this opportunity was stripped away from Franklin because Watson and Crick did it first, but this is why her story must be told.
In the end, it was Watson, Crick and Wilkins who were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962 for discovering DNA structure. It must be noted that Franklin had passed away in 1958, before it was awarded to these three men, however at this time there was no rule against giving the Nobel Prize to an individual who was deceased (this rule was not instated until 1974). Although some people speculate that her death may have been a contributing factor in the decision of who to award it to, others wonder what alternate reasons there may have been, could her gender have played a role?
The great Rosalind Franklin shall always be remembered as a powerhouse scientist and an inspiration to all individuals, but in particular to women. She is a reminder to be strong, persevere, work hard and to know that you can achieve greatness despite the obstacles that may stand in your way. In memory of Franklin, this article will end with a quote by her, that reminds us of the true importance of science and that we can never escape it, and so we as young aspiring scientists, should embrace it.
“Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated. Science, for me, gives a partial explanation of life. In so far as it goes, it is based on fact, experience and experiment.” Rosalind Franklin 1940
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