1 / 9

Rosalyn Franklin

Rosalyn Franklin. “Dark Lady of Science”. Early Interest in Nucleic Acids. 1939: 19-year-old student at Newnham College Studying chemistry Speculative sketch of nucleic acid “Geometrical basis for inheritance?”. Work with Coal. Thesis was based on the holes in coal

lstowe
Download Presentation

Rosalyn Franklin

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Rosalyn Franklin “Dark Lady of Science”

  2. Early Interest in Nucleic Acids • 1939: 19-year-old student at Newnham College • Studying chemistry • Speculative sketch of nucleic acid • “Geometrical basis for inheritance?”

  3. Work with Coal • Thesis was based on the holes in coal • 1945: Received her PhD from Cambridge in physical chemistry • Research had important industrial applications

  4. X-Ray Diffraction • One of the most capable practioners of the field • Helped refine the technology • 1951 moved to King’s College to do x-ray diffraction work

  5. King’s College • JT Randall asked her to work on the structure of DNA • Believed x-ray work exclusively to herself • Wilkins thought he was supposed to work with her • Wilkins’ mentality • Unhappy working atmosphere

  6. Rosalyn’s Contributions • Corrected Watson and Crick on their original model • Her data gave full dimensions of the unit cell, its length, width and angles • Provided the basic scientific evidence for the structure of the nucleic acid, DNA • Phosphate groups lie on the outside of the molecule • DNA chain has a helical conformation

  7. Work Unrecognized • 1952 Franklin had a full report written for the MRC • 1962 Watson, Crick and Wilkins received the Nobel Prize • Franklin did not, died 1958 • Franklin’s memory was honored in the spring of 2000 with the opening of the Franklin-Wilkins Hall at King’s College

  8. References • Anonymous. Rosalyn Franklin. http://www2.carthage.edu/~pfaffle/hgp/Franklin.html Accessed 20 June 2005. • Franklin, S. My aunt, the DNA pioneer. 24 April 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/ni/sci/tech/2895681.stm Accessed 20 June 2005.

More Related