Rosalind Franklin
British chemist, biophysicist, and X-ray crystallographer (1920–1958)
- Fame69.2
- Momentum0.0
- Scientists rank#91
Source-basedFalling
- Fame69.2
- Momentum0.0
- Scientists rank#91
- Wikipedia76.6K
Lived 1920–1958, aged 38United Kingdom
United KingdomSummary
Updated 2026-06-08
Her X-ray diffraction image — Photo 51 — revealed the structure of DNA, but the Nobel went to three men who used her data. She died at 37, four years before the prize was awarded, her name mostly unspoken.
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About
Rosalind Franklin graduated from Cambridge in 1941 and earned her PhD in 1945 studying coal structures, work appreciated in her time. She moved to Paris in 1947 and became an expert X-ray crystallographer under Jacques Mering. In 1951 she joined King's College London, where her student Raymond Gosling captured Photo 51 — the image that revealed DNA's double helix. Her colleague Maurice Wilkins showed it to James Watson without her permission. After clashes with her director and Wilkins, Franklin left for Birkbeck College in 1953 and led pioneering research on virus structures. On 16 April 1958…
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Falling69.2
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Now attention11.7
Source confidence60.0
Completeness70.0
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