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Rosalind Franklin: The Forgotten Scientist of DNA

October 14, 2025 Scientific Editorial Team

In 1952, Rosalind Franklin produced the famous "Photo 51", which revealed the helical structure of DNA. Yet her name long remained in the shadow of Watson and Crick.

Portrait of Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Franklin (1920–1958) was a British chemist who pioneered the use of X-ray crystallography to study molecular structures. Her work was essential for understanding the structure of DNA, but her role was minimized for decades.

The famous Photo 51, taken by Franklin and her doctoral student Raymond Gosling, provided crucial proof of the double helix structure of DNA. This image was shown to James Watson without Franklin's consent by Maurice Wilkins, which enabled Watson and Crick to publish their famous model in 1953.

« Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated. »
— Rosalind Franklin

Franklin also contributed significantly to the understanding of viruses, particularly the tobacco mosaic virus. Her later research laid the foundations of modern structural virology.

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Unfortunately, Rosalind Franklin died of ovarian cancer at the age of 37, four years before Watson, Crick and Wilkins received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 for their work on DNA. Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously, but many believe her name should have been cited.