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Four people in England,back in 1953,stared at photo 51.it was’t much –a picture showing a black XBut three of these people won the nobel prize for figuring out what the photo really showes-the shape of DNA.The discovery brought fame and fortune to scientists James Watson,Francis crick, and Maurice Willkins.The fourth, the one who actually made the picture, was left out.
Her name was Rosalind Franklin.“she should have been up there,”says historian mary bowden.”if her photo hadn’t been there, the others couldn’t have come up with the structure.”one reason franklin was missing was that she had died of cancer four years before the nobel decision.But now school doubt that franklin was not only robbed of her life by disease but robbed of credit by her competions.
At cambridge university in the 1950s, watson and back fried to make models by cutting up shapes of DNA’s parts and then putting them together.In the meantime, at king’s college in lodon frannklin and Willkins shone X-rays at the molecule(分子).The rays produced patterns reflecting the shape.
But willkins and frangklin’s was a lot rockier than the celebrated teamwork of waston and crick.Willkins though frangklin was hired to be his assistant.But the college actually emplyed her to take over the DNA project.
What she did was produce X-ray.And she was not shy about saying so.That angered waston, who attacked her in return,”mere inspection suggerted that she would not easily bend.Clearly she had to go or put in her place.
As frankins competitors, wilkins, watston and crick had much to gain by cutting her out of the little group of researchers,saya historian pnina Abir-Am.In 1962 at the nobel prize awarding ceremony, wilkins thanked 13 colleagues by name before he mentioned frangkin.Watson wrote his book laughing at her.Crick wrote in 1974 that “franklins was only two steps away from the solution.”
No, Franklin was the solution.”She contributed more than any other player to solving the structure of DNA.She must be considered a co-discoverer,”Abir-Am says.This was backed up by Aaron Klug, who worked with Franklin and later won a Nobel Prize himself.Once described as the “Dark Lady of DNA”,Franklin is finally coming into the light.
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