Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Franklin worked at the molecular frontier of biology, using X-ray crystallography to image structures too small to be seen by conventional microscopy.

At King’s College London, she produced a series of high-resolution diffraction images of DNA fibers - most famously Photograph 51 - which revealed the molecule’s helical structure with unprecedented clarity.

Her work required technical precision: calibrating humidity levels, preparing crystalline samples, and capturing diffraction patterns that could be mathematically interpreted into three-dimensional form.

These images provided critical structural data -including the molecule’s double-helix dimensions - that informed the modeling work of James Watson and Francis Crick.

Franklin’s findings were shared without her direct permission during the race to publish DNA’s structure. Watson and Crick’s 1953 paper announced the double helix, drawing on structural insights made possible by Franklin’s crystallographic work.

She continued her research beyond DNA, producing significant contributions to virology, including structural studies of the tobacco mosaic virus.

Franklin died in 1958 at age 37, before the Nobel Prize recognizing the discovery of DNA’s structure was awarded. Her role in revealing the molecule’s architecture has since been more fully acknowledged - restoring her place within one of the most consequential scientific breakthroughs in history.