Name: Rosalind Franklin

Other Name: Rosalind Elsie Franklin

Profession: Chemist

Famous for: For discovering the structure of DNA through X-ray diffraction studies

Nationality: British

Date of Birth: 25th July, 1920

Place of Birth: Notting Hill

Sun Sign: Leo

Date of Death: 16th April, 1958

Place of Death: Chelsea

Age when she died: 37

Father's Name: Ellis Arthur Franklin

Mother's Name: Muriel Frances Waley

Siblings' Name: Colin Franklin, David Franklin, Jenifer Glynn, Roland Franklin

Religion: Agnosticism

"Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated. Science, for me, gives a partial explanation of life. In so far as it goes, it is based on fact, experience, and experiment. . . . I agree that faith is essential to success in life, but I do not accept your definition of faith, i.e., belief in life after death. In my view, all that is necessary for faith is the belief that by doing our best we shall come nearer to success and that success in our aims (the improvement of the lot of mankind, present and future) is worth attaining."

--Rosalind Franklin in a letter to Ellis Franklin, ca. summer 1940

Introduction

Rosalind Franklin was a chemist by profession and she was best known for the discovery of the structure of DNA making use of diffraction studies of X-rays. And, she was believed to have found the Watson-Crick DNA model. She was born in an Anglo-Jewish family on 25th of July 1920 and she was the second child among the five siblings.

This scientist of the British origin is best known for discovering the structure of DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid which is a constituent of chromosomes and is responsible for finding out information on the genetics of a person. Other than that, she also contributed to the finding out on the structure of viruses and came out with a picture of the structural virology.

About Franklin's Family

Rosalind Franklin's father Ellis Franklin worked as a partner in the Keyser's Bank which was one of the major businesses of the family. Apart from that, her father was a teacher of physics at an institution and he had specialization in electro-magnetism. Both her parents were actively involved in the charity services in various community services.

Education and studies

She did her schooling from St. Paul's school and fortunately it was a great boost in her career which was of the idea that career is ultimate goal of education and not just marriage. She was very much interested in mathematical aptitude and science from a very early age and she spoke a number of languages including Italian, French and German.

Luck was in her favor and she was born into a well-to-do family which enabled her to get her education completed from various renowned institutions. She was always counted among a bright student and she passed her matriculation with brilliant grades and that also earned her scholarship. But, her father encouraged her to give the scholarship on to the names of other deserving candidates belonging to the refugee community.

Franklin's Scientific Career

She began finding out her love for science and her scientific career began to thrive when she took admission at the Cambridge University. In that time period she studied coal and classified it in a variety of categories with regards to its efficiency as a fuel. It was during that period that she was intrigued at the technique of x-ray crystallography and there after she decided to take her career further in the field.

She took the X-ray image of coal to study the changes that come into picture when soli graphite is produced from amorphous coal. After this, she went on to doing vigorous studies on her most pioneering work that is discovery of the molecular structure of DNA. Apart from that she also played an important role in finding out the structure of RNA.

Rosalind's work started at the University of Cambridge where she started it off as a research fellow working under Ronald who unfortunately did not turn out to be a good mentor. He had bad addiction to alcohol and so Franklin had to give up on her job there.

Later in the year 1942, she started working in the British Coal Utilization Research Association as an assistant Research officer. And, during that time she helped the air raid victims with her judicious work. Later she worked to made discovery on coal and its use to make discoveries with regards to making war weapons. In 1945, she received a doctorate degree from the Cambridge University.

Her studies on porosity of coal led to the classification of coal and their optimum utilisation for developing war weaponry and her dissertation 'The physical chemistry of solid organic colloids with special reference to coal' was based on her research. The 'Cambridge University' presented her a doctoral degree in the year 1945.

After that she went to Paris in 1947 to work and she worked at Laboratoire Central des Services Chimiques de l'Etat'. There were in all 15 members in the team and it was lead by Jacques Mering, a French Engineer. She later learnt everything about applying the principles of crystallography under tutelage of Mering. And, then she applied these principles on x-rays to find out on the molecular changes that take place when amorphous coal gets converted to graphite.

Under the tutelage of Mering, who himself was an x-ray crystallographer; she learnt the nuances of the technique and its application in study of crystals. She extended her studies on coals and used x-ray crystallography to decipher the changes in molecular structure when amorphous coal is converted to graphite.

When she went back to England in the year 1950 and got to receive a fellowship to assist the team that was working on deciphering the structure of DNA. After working hard on the same, Franklin discovered that there are two forms of DNA and both the forms consist of two helical structures.

Major Works

The crucial part of her work was in the field of X-ray crystallography and the studies she made on different forms of carbon. Franklin's work on the optimization of coal for making devices for wartime devices like that of gas mask was one of the noteworthy achievements of her life. And, she played the crucial role in explaining the structure of DNA and RNA.

Personal Life and marriage

Rosalind Franklin never got married according to the studies nevertheless there were speculations of her affairs. In the year 1956, she was diagnosed with abdominal cancer but in spite of the ill health she kept on assisting her team work. Later after 2 years of the diagnosis she succumbed to death on 16th April.

Other interests of Rosalind Franklin

She was very much interested in various outdoor activities including travelling and trekking.