A segment on NPR this week about the discovery of the structure of DNA failed to mention Rosalind Franklin’s remarkable contribution to that scientific milestone.
AILSA CHANGE, HOST:
And now for some important context in the history we had yesterday, the story of the anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA.
MARY LOUIS KELLY, HOST:
The story included part of a report first aired on NPR in 1993. We noted the work of two scientists, James Watson and Francis Crick, and a paper published in 1953. Our review has been neglected, but we must mention a significant effort towards it. about a discovery by a physicist named Rosalind Franklin. On this first day of Women’s History Month, a little more about Franklin and her additions.
CHANG: Franklin was a chemist at King’s College in the early 1950s, and he produced the crucial X-ray image of DNA that Watson and Crick later used. He is widely recognized as having played a major role in the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA, and in fact published a paper on his findings that accompanied Watson and Crick’s research.
KELLY: Rosalind Franklin died in 1958, at the age of 37, four years before Watson, Crick and other scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work, with no mention of Franklin’s contribution. Without his work, the basic building blocks of life would not be as well understood as they are today, and our coverage of the discovery of DNA should have been reflected.
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