Contents
Rosalind Franklin
Producing crucial X-ray evidence for DNA’s structure.
Photo 51 · Virus research
- Born
- 25 July 1920
- Birthplace
- London, England
- Died
- 16 April 1958
More people
Rosalind Franklin
An English chemist who used X-ray diffraction to investigate the structures of carbon materials and biological molecules.
Early life
London upbringing
Grew up in a Jewish family involved in education and public service.
Cambridge training
Studied natural sciences at Newnham College.
Career
- 1942
Coal research
Joined the British Coal Utilisation Research Association.
- 1947
Paris laboratory
Developed expertise in X-ray crystallography.
- 1951
King’s College London
Began research on DNA.
- 1953
Birkbeck
Moved into research on viruses.
Contributions
Coal structure
Research on carbon materials formed the basis of her doctorate.
Photo 51
Raymond Gosling produced the DNA diffraction image under her supervision.
Virus structure
Investigated tobacco mosaic virus and other viruses.
Beyond the lab
Walking and travel
Enjoyed hiking and travelling in Europe.
Short life
Died at thirty-seven, before the 1962 Nobel recognition of the DNA model.
Sources & photo credit
Biographical reference ↗King’s College London: the story behind Photo 51 ↗Photo: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
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