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Between 1953 and 1968, Rosalind Franklin was written out of DNA history, although she was the X-ray diffraction expert who recorded the data which allowed Watson and Crick to build the backbone of their model of DNA as early as March 1953 (see adjacent photo). Although Franklin has received some significant recognition since Watson's personal (and sexist) account, "The Double Helix", revealed her role in 1968, the 50th anniversary celebrations (in the United States) of the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA have shown that her reputation and accomplishments have yet to be fully restored and acknowledged. Many mistakenly assume that to acknowledge Franklin would detract from the scientific achievements of Watson and Crick. Often, even those who acknowledge her scientific contributions, still accept Watson's distorted personal portrayal of this woman, who died at age 37 in 1958, and was therefore unprotected by libel laws in 1968. Only a timeline of actual events can distinguish amongst the individual contributions of the four scientists most closely associated with DNA structure.
Please save your lunchtime on Tuesday 22nd March to learn about Rosalind Franklin, an (English) X-ray diffraction expert who had a significant role in one of the 20th century's greatest scientific discoveries, but never received credit for it during her short lifetime. Dr Lynne Osman Elkin, Professor of Biological Sciences at the California State University at Hayward (now called CSU, East Bay) is dedicating herself to clarifying Franklin's role in the discovery of the structure of DNA. Dr Elkin published a lengthy article on Franklin in "Physics Today" in March 2003 and is currently writing a biography of her.