Rosalind Franklin, DNA's unsung Pioneer 🧬 Rosalind Franklin was a British biophysicist who used X-ray crystallography to reveal the structure of DNA in 1952. Her images, especially Photo 51, provided crucial evidence for the double helix model proposed by James Watson and Francis Crick. Photo 51, captured through X-ray fiber diffraction, depicts a paracrystalline gel consisting of DNA fiber. This significant image was taken by Raymond Gosling, a graduate student under the guidance of Rosalind Franklin, at King’s College London in May 1952. It played a pivotal role in unveiling the double-helix structure of DNA. Interestingly, Franklin's primary focus lay in deciphering the diffraction pattern of the A form of DNA, causing her to set aside Gosling's Photo 51. However, as Franklin's tenure at King's College drew to a close, Gosling shared the photograph with Maurice Wilkins, who subsequently exposed it to James Watson without Franklin's prior knowledge or consent. Watson's recognition of the helical pattern stemmed from the earlier work of his collaborator Francis Crick, who had published a paper outlining the diffraction pattern of a helix. Leveraging distinctive attributes within Photo 51, alongside corroborating evidence from various sources, Watson and Crick pieced together the chemical blueprint of the DNA molecule. She died of ovarian cancer in 1958, four years before Watson, Crick, and Wilkins received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery. She was not eligible for the prize because it is not awarded posthumously. Full story: medium.com/cantors-paradise/… [Image courtesy of Rosalind Franking University of Medicine and Science]