The Warped Reality of the Helix

“In my view, all that is necessary for faith is the belief that by doing our best, we shall come
nearer to success and that success in our aims is worth attaining.”
 
Born on 25th July 1920 in London, Rosalind Elsie Franklin’s childhood was considered
unnatural for an English girl of those times. She was a formidable student, determined to become
a scientist notwithstanding society deterring her aptitude and supposed competence as a woman.
After graduating as a qualified doctor of chemistry from the University of Cambridge, Franklin’s
application of her knowledge to research the properties and varieties of coal resulted in the
development of safer gas masks for the British soldiers during the Second World War as well as
the increased efficiency in using the exhaustible fossil fuel. 
 
She embarked on her most renown biochemical experiment, later in 1951, that piqued every
biologist’s interest during the time – the structure of the DNA molecule using the X-ray
diffraction technique. She was insistent on using solely scientific and rational means to arrive at
the conclusion, without any presumption causing inaccuracy in the perfectionist’s proceedings.
While her misogynistic colleagues like Maurice Wilkins undermined her capabilities and
proficiency for the project deemed too ambitious, Franklin obtained Photo 51 of DNA, the most
glorious X-ray record ever in the history of King’s College research laboratory where this
revelation was deduced.
 
Without her knowledge, Wilkins revealed the photograph to James Watson and Francis Crick,
the famous duo who used this instrumental evidence to formulate their thesis without any citation
of the same. Rosalind finished her calculations and analysis in about a year and submitted her
manuscript shortly after Watson and Crick in April 1953. Consequently, critics and researchers
could only perpetuate that Franklin’s report merely confirmed the breakthrough by the twisted
prodigies that revolutionized molecular biology. 
 
Shortly after her studies on genetic virology, Rosalind Franklin died in 1958. Distressingly, she
did not know about the audacious scientists plagiarizing her work. Wilkins, Watson, and Crick,
who won the Nobel Prize in 1962, regarded her as a “plain-dressing, belligerent scientist” in The
Double Helix, accounted by Watson himself. Wilkins’s inherent misogyny and hostility towards
Franklin drove him to commit his ignoble act that undermines her true worth in the scientific
community to date.
 
The tale of Rosalind and her invaluable contribution to the initiative remains as unknown as her
trials and tribulations of combating sexism in science. Erasure in scientific history has further
invalidated her brilliance. It is time to acknowledge the overlooked scientist behind the double-
helix everyone wants to wrap their mind around.

By :
Govind Khetpal
Class - 10 B
College Number - 120004