Rosalind Elsie Franklin


1920-1958

In 1920, Rosalind Elsie Franklin was born in London. She attended Cambridge University and graduated in 1941. Rosalind first learned about X-ray diffraction techniques while working with Jacques Mering in Paris in the late 1940's. She joined the Biophysical Laboratory of King's College in London in 1951. There she continued to study X-ray diffraction. Ms. Franklin used her knowledge to research the crystal structures of molecules such as DNA.

The purpose of X-ray diffraction is to study the patterns X-ray beams make in the crystals of a substance. First X-rays are focused on the crystal. The molecules of the substance arrange themselves in a repeating pattern and the x-rays bend according to the pattern. Ms. Franklin used her understanding of   X-ray diffraction to discover properties of DNA. She discovered DNA's density and spherical shape.

Her research enabled other scientists to build accurate models of DNA molecules later. She also studied the structure of the tobacco mosaic virus. Rosalind worked at the Crystallography Laboratory at Birbeck College from 1953 until 1958. She studied the changes in the shapes of heated carbon. This research was important in atomic technology and in the cooking industry.

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