Rosalind Franklin

In many scientific domains, the identification of the real structure of the DNA molecule was a major finding. It is frequently attributed to two scientists by the names of Jim Watson and Francis Crick, and this is also true.

Watson and Crick, as they have come to be called throughout the years, were the pioneers in defining the chemical and biological structure of the DNA molecule when they were working at Cambridge. They shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery with Maurice Wilkins of King's University, who created the first in-depth image of the molecule.

Rosalind Franklin, a talented scientist and maybe one of the top X-ray crystallographers in Britain during the early post-World War II era, is curiously absent from that list. The first X-ray image of the DNA was captured by Franklin and one of her pupils, and it was this image that served as the direct inspiration for Wilkins', Watson's, and Crick's further studies on the issue. Rosalind largely lay the foundation for the discovery, and it is commonly considered that she would have been included in the Nobel Prize had she been alive. Unfortunately, she passed suddenly in 1958.

Born: Rosalind Elsie Franklin, 25 July 1920Notting Hill, London, England
Died: 16 April 1958 (aged 37)Chelsea, London, England

Known for: Structure of DNA, Fine structure of coal and graphite, Structures of viruses