Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Rosalind Franklin

This woman was brilliant. Google her for details; I'm not writing a book.

I was reading National Geographic's "The Complete Human Body" when I came across a little snippet about Franklin. Her work in physics and X-ray diffraction gave base to Watson and Crick's DNA studies and aided in the discovery of the double helix. However, her work was shown to the DNA Discovery Duo without her permission, and she received no deserving credit for her work. She was patronized most of her career. She was denied her degree from Cambridge because women were not awarded those there at the time. She received her PhD from Ohio University at least.

If that isn't enough, she gets ovarian cancer and dies at age 38. WTF?! AND THEN, the DNA Discovery Duo and Wilkins the Leaker received the Nobel Peace Prize for the work after her death! She was not eligible for the Prize because they do not award it posthumously. But, damn if she had not gotten ovarian cancer (likely from X-Ray radiation!), she would have likely gotten it!

Well, Rosalind, if you can hear me, thank you so much for pioneering DNA work and being your brilliant self.

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