Works Cited
"Pioneer Molecular Biologist." Www.sdsc.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
Brett Kirk
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Rosalind Franklin
Many of us learn about the breakthrough discoveries of Crick and Watson concerning the structure of DNA. While Crick and Watson had a history of studying DNA, their most famous contribution happened only after they were shown the work of the British biophysicist, Rosalind Franklin. Franklin was discouraged and looked down upon by her colleagues because of her sex. The information that was shown to Crick and Watson was given to them by another colleague, Maurice Wilkins, without Franklin's knowledge. All three men won a Nobel Peace PRize for their contributions to science. Franklin's work was portrayed as a contribution to the discovery but was ultimately downplayed by the scientific community. Her discovery enabled the scientific community to make one of the greatest discoveries of the twenty first century, yet she is rarely credited with it. Franklin continued to lend her expertise and skill to the scientific community until she died of ovarian cancer at the age of 37. Had she lived, she could have advanced molecular biology even further than the monumental stride she enabled in her short career as a scientist.
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It breaks my heart to know that Crick and Watson are household names and I have never even heard of Rosalind Franklin. It is a shame that she didn’t receive recognition due to her being a female. She should be publicly credited with these discoveries that she worked so hard for. I can only imagine the things Rosalind could have discovered, had she lived longer. She has my respect and I am glad to learn about her.
ReplyDeleteLaRissa Robertson
Wow, I love Roalinds story, there are so many women that are over looked for their accomplishments, but this poor women had her work practically stolen and claimed claimed as some one elses work. that it just sad. I wonder what her reaction was when she found out that they were using her work, and if she confronted the two men.....Great blog!
ReplyDelete-Alisha Drian