8 Ground-Breaking Discoveries You Didn't Know Were Made By Women

8. Rosalind Franklin: Discovered The Structure Of DNA

So you know how Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA all on their own? Nope. "Photograph 51" is an X-ray image taken by Rosalind Franklin that shows the classic helical structure of DNA. Not only was this photo shown to Watson and Crick without her permission, but so was her massive collection of data to back it up. Franklin herself was not into model building with insufficient data, hence why she hadn't begun processing her own data yet. Watson and Crick took the data and began to extrapolate. Eventually, the pair came up with the famous "double helix" structure of DNA and purported to have "discovered the secret of life", whilst Rosalind and her work were quite literally relegated to a single, solitary footnote. This is despite the fact that both her photograph and her data were key to figuring out the structure of DNA. Ironically, Franklin had actually delivered a lecture on her findings more than a year earlier, and Watson was at the lecture. He, however, did not bother to take any notes and it was lost on him. Franklin has never been awarded a Nobel Prize for her work as it is only awarded to living people. Franklin, having died at the age of 37, went unrecognised in her lifetime.
In this post: 
Lise Meitner
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Writer. Raconteur. Gardeners' World Enthusiast.