Watson, Crick, and Franklin

537 Words3 Pages
While many may know of Francis Crick and James Watson for winning the Nobel Prize because they discovered the double helix structure of DNA, few know that the actual discovery of the double helix structure was not them, and in fact a woman, named Rosalind Franklin. Rosalind attended Cambridge where she completed her Ph.D. Later in life, she worked in France specializing in X-ray crystallography of carbonaceous solids. Franklin created a machine where she took Photo 51, the first photo showing DNA and the double helix structure. Watson and Crick wrongfully used her photo to their benefit. Watson and Crick secretly viewed Photo 51, never gave Franklin credit, and ruined Franklins image in Watson’s book he published. During the time, female scientists, such as Rosalind Franklin were treated very poorly. For example, they were forced to leave the campus during lunch, as they were not allowed in the cafeteria. Also, her co-workers disliked her and Wilkins was disgruntled to learn he was not in charge of Franklin and she was in fact on her own research. After Franklin printed Photo 51, Wilkins decided it would be acceptable to secretly show Watson and Crick, who quickly decided to use the photo to their advantage. Moreover, Photo 51 led to many other great discoveries that Watson and Crick made, however, they never decided to credit Franklin. Because Watson was able to secretly study Photo 51, he could use characteristics from it to create the chemical model of DNA. In addition, Photo 51 became a crucial data source, and led to the creation of the DNA model, which confirmed the theory of the double helix structure. The discovery of the double helix structure from Photo 51 led to scientists being able to understand DNA, which also enabled them to learn more about diseases, and heredity. Because of this miraculous discovery, Watson and Crick won the Nobel Prize,
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