Rosalind Franklin’s research was crucial to discovering DNA’s double helix structure 🧬 but it was James Watson & Francis Crick who received the credit & Nobel Prize.
Unknown to Franklin, the pair saw her unpublished data & X-ray diffraction images, inspiring their model. They never acknowledged her contribution until after her death.
How many discoveries & innovations of #women do we attribute to the men who took credit for their ideas?
Franklin was an absolutely brilliant experimentalist but this common take seems unfair. Her contributions were in fact acknowledged early on -- Watson was the first to suggest she should have shared in the Nobel and she became close with Crick. But her bosses at MRC were frustrated because she refused to model, and in fact she even made fun of Wilkins for proposing a helical structure. Her data were essential, she was brilliant, and I can't imagine the prejudice against women...
"Still, she probably freely shared her knowledge with Watson and Crick, rather than having her X-ray images used without her knowledge, as Watson himself implied" This is poppycock. PBS Nova talked to Watson and Wilkins in the '90s and it's pretty clear the data was gotten without her knowledge or consent. https://youtu.be/V9GuA27FJBg?t=266
We always have to keep in mind that a Documentary, after all, can tell lies and it can tell lies because it lays claim to a form of veracity which fiction do...
I always thought it likely that she knew. The more interesting question is, I think, whether Watson and Crick were fully aware of their plagiarism, and if they were, how they squared their theft with their conscience and obligations as scientists.
Knowing it's a helix is not the same as understanding the double-helix structure. In fact, I believe Linus Pauling beat Crick and Watson to publication with a paper incorrectly showing it to be a triple helix. This article lacks clarity a bit.
Belafon
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •TransitionState
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Petah Kahn🏳️⚧️
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Herman 🇪🇺🇺🇦🇾🇪
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •katie
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Sheril Kirshenbaum
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Rosalind Franklin update!
“A new paper based on long-lost documents confirms that DNA discoverer Rosalind Franklin should be credited for discovering the double helix.”
https://www.livescience.com/health/genetics/rosalind-franklin-knew-dna-was-a-helix-before-watson-and-crick-unpublished-material-reveals?fbclid=IwAR3AhaUWlB4QejBW6ESk1IAn-IPKqF8PUUs4KHPbZ2jMnQcCgCDcGPOjA74#lgymp4kotadc1a3pafg #HistoryRemix #history #science /2
Rosalind Franklin knew DNA was a helix before Watson and Crick, unpublished material reveals
Jennifer Nalewicki (Live Science)Megan Lynch (she/her)
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •DNA Episode 1 of 5 The Secret of Life ✪ PBS Nova Documentary Channel
YouTubeAuntie Syzygy
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Flora Graham
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Steve Cromwell
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Reminds me of this joke:
Lecturer: What did Watson & Crick discover?
Woman in audience: Rosalind Franklin’s notebook
cui bono baby?
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Pterry
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Laux Myth (aka Martin)
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Steven Molnar
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •