Rosalind Franklin: biography and contributions of this British chemist.

Summary of the life of Rosalind Franklin, scientist who helped discover the structure of DNA.

Rosalind Franklin was a British chemist who trained and mastered the technique of X-ray crystallography. Using this technique, she studied different molecules and materials such as carbon, tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) or the structure of DNA and RNA.

It was with regard to the DNA molecule that he made one of his greatest discoveries, embodied in the "photograph number 51", which would serve for the subsequent formulation of Francis Crick and John Watson's model of the structure of the double helix.

Unfortunately, given his premature death at the age of 37 in 1958, he could not receive the recognition he deserved for the discovery of this structure, and he could not be awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology that Crick and Watson received in 1962.

In this biography of Rosalind Franklin we will see the most important events in the life of this researcher and her major contributions to the world of science in general and biochemistry in particular.

Brief biography of Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Elsie Franklin was born in London, United Kingdom, on July 25, 1920.. She was the second of five children of a wealthy Jewish family; her father, Ellis Arthur Franklin, was a banker and professor.

Given the good economic level the family enjoyed, Franklin was able to attend prestigious private schools, such as the Norland Place private school in London, when she was six, the Lindores School for Young Ladies in Sussex at the age of nine and St Paul's School for girls, when she was eleven.

From a very young age she was a brilliant and dedicated student, always getting excellent grades in different subjects. She also learned both German and French.

At the early age of 18, she was accepted she was accepted at Newnham College in Cambridge, where she chose to study natural sciences, more specifically chemistry.. At first her father did not see well the choice of studies of his daughter and decided not to pay for them, but soon after he would come to his senses.

During her stay in Cambridge she coincided with Arienne Weill, a Frenchwoman who had the honor of having Marie Curie as a teacher, and who would have a great influence on Rosalind's life.

Consolidation of her professional career

After graduating in 1941 she obtained a University scholarship to do her doctorate in the Physics and Chemistry Laboratory at Cambridge University. He was mentored by Ronald George Wreyford Norrish, who would go on to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967. But Franklin did not feel comfortable with this professor, so in 1942 he decided to present his research services to the British Coal Association.

Thus he began his work with coal, also helping the British side in World War II.

During his work with coal, he studied several of its characteristics, such as its porosity, its combustion capacity and the possibility of building war devices from its potential. This research allowed him to complete his doctoral thesis entitled "The physicochemistry of solid organic colloids with special reference to coal" and thus defend his thesis in 1946.

His beginnings with X-ray crystallography

After finishing his doctorate he moved to Paris to look for a job, and it was his friend Arienne Weill who introduced him to Marchel Mathiu, who was the director of the National Center for Scientific Research, which had most of the research laboratories associated with the French government. He was thus able to contact Jacques Mering, with whom he began working in 1947 at the Laboratoire Central des Services Chimiques de l'Etat in Paris.

It was while researching with Mering that he began to train and learn the technique of X-ray crystallography.. Her mentor was already using this technique to observe the diffraction produced by applying it to amorphous substances, which are molecularly formless, such as gases and liquids.

So Rosalind applied this new tool to the study of carbon, thus being able to write several articles and serve as a basis for the knowledge of the physics and chemistry of carbon.

Research on the structure of DNA.

Following his stay in France, in 1950 he received a fellowship to work for three years at King's College in London. In 1951, he joined the Biophysics Unit of the Medical Research Council, which was under the direction of John Randall, she began the study of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule, as she was the only one in the unit with a background in crystallography..

At that time Maurice Wilkins and Raymond Gosling had succeeded in obtaining an image of the DNA molecule by diffraction. Thus, with the incorporation of Franklin, the machine used to obtain the images could be improved, thus obtaining sharper images. These advances also allowed the discovery of two forms of the DNA molecule depending on whether it was in a wet or dry environment, A and B respectively..

In 1951 he gave a conference in which he presented the results obtained from the DNA molecule; among the attendees were Jamnes Watson and Francis Crick, researchers at the Cavendish Laboratory and also interested in the study of the structure of the molecule.

Given Wilkins' relationship with the pair of Cavendish researchers, it was common for him to show them many of the images that he and Franklin took of the molecule. Thus it was that in 1953 they saw, unbeknownst to Rosalind, photograph number 51, which would be instrumental in supporting the modeling of the structure of the DNA double helix..

Thus it was that Watson and Crick, after seeing the famous photograph and several of Franklin's cryptographic calculations, completed and presented their model of the double helix structure of the DNA molecule, published in the journal Nature on April 25, 1953.The work done by Franklin was only briefly mentioned. Similarly, the modified results obtained by Wilkins and Franklin in their research using X-ray diffraction on DNA were also published in the same issue of this journal, which gave the impression of supporting the presented model of the double helix.

Days before the publication of the innovative model, Franklin asked Watson to show it to her. Rosalind was not too impressed, as she believed that before building and forming a theoretical model it was necessary to have more backing from experimental results.

Moving on to other areas of research

Given her disagreements with Wilkins, In 1954, he decided to transfer to Birkbeck College, where he worked with Irish scientist John Bernal.. Even so, he did not completely abandon the study of DNA, incorporating into his projects the investigation of another nucleic acid: ribonucleic acid (RNA). He was also interested in understanding the structure of the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), the results of which he published in 1955 in the journal Nature.

In 1958, Expo 58, a major international event, was held in Brussels. The organizers of the event proposed Franklin to make a 5-foot scale model of the TMV virus, chemistry accepted, thus exhibiting the TMV model at the exhibition on April 17, 1958, just after Franklin's death.

Final years and death

It was in 1956 when her health problems began, so she went to the doctor and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. After emergency surgery, she recovered with the help of family and friends.

In spite of her delicate health condition, she did not stop researching, publishing multiple articles throughout her life.She published many articles during that year and the following one.

At the end of 1957 his illness worsened again, so he decided to write his will, where he left his siblings as the ones in charge of fulfilling his last will, and he distributed his goods among friends and charity.

Finally, she had her last relapse in March 1958, dying on April 16 of the same year, at the age of 37, in Chelsea, London, due to bronchopneumonia, ovarian Cancer and secondary carcinomatosis.

Given her untimely death he was never able to receive the recognition he deserved for his work on the structure of the DNA molecule.However, Crick and Watson, who presented their model based on Franklin's results, received the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 1962.

Other interesting facts about his life

Regarding her private life, from a young age she was an activist in trade union organizations and in the demand for women's suffrage. Although she considered herself Jewish and trained in her culture and traditions, for example with the study of the Hebrew language, she considered herself agnostic.

She also enjoyed and made many trips and excursions; it is worth mentioning her visits to the United States, a place where her friends and colleagues appreciated her very much, and to France, a country she was in love with.