Happy birthday Rosalind Franklin!

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Have you heard of her? Probably not. She is my science hero. I love teaching my students about her. The short version is that she was an English woman born into a wealthy Jewish family who was expected to get married, have babies, and live a rich life. Instead she got a doctorate degree in science and specialized in x-ray crystallography which focuses on determining the molecular structure of substances. She eventually wound up at King's College at Oxford University working on trying to determine the structure of DNA back in the 1950s. She was a tough cookie and didn't get along with her "partner" but she did excellent work. Her most famous image of the reflection pattern (not an actual x-ray) of DNA is called Photo 51. To those who know what they are looking at the image SCREAMS "double helix"! The image was shared without her permission or knowledge to James Watson and BAM. 1 week later James Watson and Francis Crick had determined the double helix structure of DNA. Rosalind Franklin died at the age of 38 from ovarian cancer likely caused by all of her exposure to x-rays while doing her research. She never knew that her work had been shared with James Watson and how it contributed to their conclusion. In 1962 James Watson, his lab partner Francis Crick, and Franklin's lab partner Maurice Wilkins won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery of the structure of DNA. Franklin was not eligible because she was dead and they don't award Nobel Prizes posthumously. The award can only be shared by a maximum of 3 people so she likely wouldn't have edged out a man in 1962. It is good that she is now getting recognized for her accomplishments. Like I said she is my science hero. She was a serious badass. A great biography of her is "The Dark Lady of DNA". There is a video "The Secret of Photo 51" that you can view on YouTube for free. I do a whole lesson on her each year with my biology classes. The sad thing is that several of the people who contributed so much to biology never knew it before their death. They would be shocked to see their faces in biology textbooks--Gregor Mendel, Henrietta Lacks, Rosalind Franklin, etc. We honor them by sharing with the world how they improved everyone's lives. Happy birthday Rosalind! You are my hero!