Early Life
Born in London in 1920 into a prominent Jewish banking family, Franklin excelled at science at St Paul's Girls' School. She studied natural sciences at Newnham College, Cambridge, graduating in 1941. During World War II she researched the porosity of coal for the British Coal Utilisation Research Association, earning her PhD in 1945. She then spent four happy years in Paris learning X-ray diffraction techniques.
Major Discoveries
- 01Identified the A and B forms of DNA
- 02Took 'Photo 51', revealing DNA's helical structure
- 03Showed the phosphate backbone lies on the outside of DNA
- 04Determined the structure of the tobacco mosaic virus with Aaron Klug
- 05Classified carbons into graphitising and non-graphitising types
- 06Studied the structure of polio virus
Famous Experiments
- 01Controlled humidity of DNA fibres to separate the A and B forms
- 02Exposed a DNA fibre to X-rays for over 60 hours to capture Photo 51
- 03Used X-ray crystallography to map how RNA sits inside virus particles
Awards & Honors
- 01Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (posthumous recognition via colleagues)
- 02Many buildings and institutes named in her honour, including the Rosalind Franklin Institute
- 03Mars rover 'Rosalind Franklin' named after her (ESA)
Legacy
Franklin's data were essential to Watson and Crick's 1953 DNA model. Her work on viruses founded structural virology. Once overlooked, she is now celebrated as a symbol of women's contributions to science.
Fun Facts
- 01She died of ovarian cancer at 37, possibly linked to X-ray exposure
- 02Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously, so she could not share the 1962 prize
- 03Her colleague Aaron Klug won the 1982 Nobel Prize for work they began together
- 04She was a keen traveller and mountain hiker