LUCHKOVSKII

VITALII

Rosalind Franklin
 Rosalind Franklin was an English
biophysicist and x-ray scientist who
studied the structure of DNA.

Rosalind Franklin is primarily known for

her work on obtaining X-ray patterns of
the structure of DNA. The pictures taken
by her were particularly clear and
prepared the ground for conclusions
about the structure of DNA made by
James Watson and Francis Crick.
 BIOGRAPHY
Franklin was born in the Notting Hill district of London into a wealthy and
influential British Jewish family.

Her father was the banker Ellis Arthur Franklin (1894-1964), her mother was
Muriel Frances Whaley (1894-1976); Rosalind was the eldest daughter and
the second child out of five in the family. Her paternal uncle, Herbert
Samuel (later Viscount Samuel), was Minister of the Interior in 1916.

Franklin studied at St. Paul's School for Girls and at St Paul's

Girl's School, where she excelled in science, Latin and sports.

In the winter of 1938, Franklin went to Newnham College, Cambridge

University. She passed the final exams in 1941, but she was awarded
only a nominal degree, since women at that time did not have the
right to receive academic degrees after graduating from Cambridge
(Bachelor of Arts degree from a Cambridge University graduate); only
in 1945 she received the academic degree of Doctor of Philosophy at
Cambridge University[14]. After the war, Franklin moved to Paris,
where she was engaged in research in the field of X-ray structural
analysis, and in 1950 she returned to England to work at the
University of London on the study of the structure of DNA.
Franklin's contribution to the
study of the DNA model

One of Franklin's most important

contributions to the Watson-Crick
model was her lecture held in
November 1951, where she presented
to the audience, among whom Watson
was also, the two forms of the
molecule, type A and type B, as well
as its structure, in which the phosphate
groups are located on the outside of
the molecule. She also determined the
amount of water in the molecule and
its ratio in different parts of the
molecule — data that were extremely
important for maintaining the stability
of the molecule. Franklin was the first
to discover and formulate the facts
that later formed the basis for
subsequent attempts to build a model
of the molecule.
 In the summer of 1956, while on a business trip to the USA, Franklin first suspected
health problems — her skirt stopped fastening, and the cause was a tumor in the
abdominal cavity. The operation, carried out in September of the same year, revealed
two tumors in the abdominal cavity.
After this and subsequent hospitalizations, Franklin spent time with her friends and
family members, gradually recovering. Among them are Anna Sayre, Frances Crick, his
wife Odile, with whom Franklin developed a strong friendship , and, finally, with the
family of Roland and Nina Franklin, in which Rosalind's nieces and nephews cheered her
up. She chose not to stay with her parents, because her mother's uncontrollable tears
and grief upset her too much.
Even while receiving anticancer therapy, Franklin continued to work, and her group
continued to get results — 7 works in 1956 and 6 in 1957. In 1957, the group also
researched the poliomyelitis virus and received funding from the US Department of
Health. At the end of 1957, Franklin fell ill again and was admitted to the Royal Marsden
Hospital. She returned to work in January 1958, received the position of research
associate in the field of biophysics.
On March 30, she fell ill again, and on April 16, she died in the Chelsea district of
London from bronchopneumonia, secondary carcinomatosis, and ovarian carcinoma.
Exposure to X-ray radiation is sometimes considered a possible factor in the
development of her disease . Other members of her family died of cancer, and, as is
known, the incidence of "female" cancer is disproportionately high among Ashkenazi
Jews.