Photo 51, Rosalind Franklin and the DNA Double Helix #Shorts
Pack: 04 - Photo 51, Rosalind Franklin and the DNA Double Helix
The double helix wasn't solved by two people alone: Rosalind Franklin's X-ray data were central to it.
- In May 1952 at King's College London, Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling took a clear X-ray image of DNA's B form, later known as Photo 51. (NIH/NLM Profiles in Science)
- Franklin told DNA's A and B forms apart, confirmed a 34 Å repeat and found the crystal's C2 symmetry; a 2023 Nature reassessment calls her "an equal contributor" and says Watson and Crick used King's data without permission to confirm their model. (Nature, 2023)
- On April 25, 1953, Nature published Watson and Crick's double helix, with papers from Franklin and Gosling and from Wilkins and colleagues in the same issue. Adenine pairs with thymine and guanine with cytosine, which suggested how DNA could copy itself. (Nature, 1953)
- Watson, Crick and Wilkins shared the 1962 Nobel Prize. Franklin died in 1958, and Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously. (NobelPrize.org; NIH/NLM)
Sources
- Watson & Crick, Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids, Nature, Apr 25, 1953
- Cobb & Comfort, What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA's structure, Nature, Apr 25, 2023
- NIH/NLM Profiles in Science, Rosalind Franklin Papers, The DNA Riddle
- NIH/NLM Profiles in Science, Biographical Overview
- NobelPrize.org, Physiology or Medicine 1962
- NobelPrize.org, FAQ (posthumous awards)
Images
- Dr Rosalind Franklin and Photo 51 (exhibit panel). Robin Stott, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Rosalind Franklin in Paris. CSHL Archives, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Replica of the Watson–Crick DNA model, Berlin Museum of Medical History. Flocci Nivis, CC BY 4.0
- DNA base-pair diagram. Darryl Leja for NHGRI, public domain
- Rosalind Franklin blue plaque. Matt Brown, CC BY 4.0
